Ticket to Life
by GreyLoki
Summary: If you never lived, but watch someone else live their life, how would you react when you're finally able to live? Your choices and experiences are now your own. How will you cope with your new found freedom? Watch Gumball's conscience take his turn with his Ticket to Life. (First story so please write a review)
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first story published online. I would like honest critiques, but please be gentle.**

**I Do Not Own The Amazing World of Gumball, just the OCs you meet.**

**Just so you know my OC's thoughts are in italics (the words that are leaning to the right) and Gumball's will be in bold (the thicker words)**

**I'm somewhat sarcastic, I'm sincerely sorry. Both for my sarcasm and common mistakes in my story.**

~Day 0~

_'I see everything he sees. Hear what he hears. Feel what he feels. The pain of being like this almost unbearable. He never listens to me... Can he even hear me? I guess... he neglected me for so long my screams of common sense can't reach him... I'm useless aren't I? I don't care anymore. If he won't listen to me I won't guide him anymore. Just let me out! Out of this prison in his mind! It's painful to sit and watch. I want to act, move, dance. Something! It's torture watching him play "Dodj or Dahr" so many times and feeling the pain. Although I've noticed his resistance to pain increasing, I don't want to keep feeling it. When will my time come?_

_'Gumball Watterson... How is it that in a family with names like Anias, Nicole, Richard, and Darwin they name their son Gumball? Even if Richard has the IQ lower than a bag of corn, Nicole should have put her foot down at Gumball's birth, but hey she's somewhat of an enabler so... It's just that all of his pet fish got normal names, all of them Darwin of course. Goodness. I'd blame his name for his antics, but I know better. Even if his name was Steven he'd still be a lovable, destructive goof._

_'Yea... I said lovable. I can't bring myself to hate the kid, even if he doesn't listen to me. He has this charisma that he can get so many people to like him. Tobias, the rainbow kid, is rich and seems somewhat popular and he still hangs with Gumball from time to time. Even Banana Joe, why does Elmore have so many weird names,is kinda the third to Gumball and Darwin's duo. Gumball's bullies can't even hate him. Tina sees him as a friend, typical Tsundere, and Jamie is tolerant of him. Carie, Teri, Penny, Masami; so many names ending with the e sound; Bobert, etc... The only ones I can say who definitively hate him are Ms./Mr. Simian; can't tell half the time; and Penny's dad._

_'Is he annoying? Yes. Does he cause thousands of dollars in damages? Yes. Is he stupid? Yes and no; if put more effort into thinking before he acted there'd be less stupid craziness. But can you hate him? Not likely. If it wasn't for the bad things happening around him I would say he was a Gary Sue of his own life. Some important stuff just work for him. He still needs a conscience, but I'm sick of being it. I want a life of my own. Some day... I might get my wish.'_

~Day 1~

Be-Beep be-beep be-beep...

The alarm has been going off for half an hour now. I don't mind the darkness I see, but I really don't want to look at the inside of Gumball's eyelids.

_'Wake up lazy bones! Today's Sunday, you got one more day of doing jack,'_ I yell in the back of my mind. I know this is futile, but hey, it keeps me sane... Not really. How can I be sane when I'm just apart of this guy's mind. Being an ignored conscience is brutal. No control, no choice, and no one to "talk" to is heck.

_'SOMEONE WAKE THIS BLUE CAT UP!' _I yell once more.

_Be-beep be-beep be-beep_

"Hey. Gumball? It's time to get up," said a voice of innocence.

_'Thank yooouu, Darwin!'_

Darwin Raglin Caspian Ahab Poseidon Nicodemus Watterson III, the third orange pet fish of the family. Also, the only one to grow legs and develop, mentally, past 8 years old.

"Come on Gumball. It's 10:30. Get up."

Slowly Gumball yawns, sits up and begins to open his eyes.

_'Finally! I can se... Oh my goodness the sun burns the eyes!'_

Gumball closes his tight and rubs the sleep from them. "Mornin' Dude," he says as begins to get outta bed, "So what's planned for today?"

"Well," Darwin pulls a piece of paper from behind his back.

_'Where did he keep that?'_

"First, we sit and watch cartoons for 2 hours, then video games for 2 more..."

_'Wow, sounds like an exciting and mentally stimulating day so far.'_

"Then we go to the park to hang with Tobias, Banana Joe, and Bobert," Darwin finished with that innocent smile, like nothing is wrong in the world. By this time Gumball had gotten dressed in his signature outfit: light blue denim pants, white-ish tan long sleeved sweater and no shoes.

_'What no shower? *inner sigh* So that makes it the 4__th__day without washing?' _sarcastically _'So nice...'_

"Well buddy, lets get started," I can feel Gumball smile lightly as he said this.

Darwin puts on his own signature clothes, socks and green shoes only.

_'Nother day in da nude, Darwin?_

As they descend down the stairs Gumball smells something delicious coming from the kitchen. Nicole; Gumball's mother, who he resembles (only taller than him); is cooking a small breakfast for the family. Anias and Richard are already sitting at the table waiting. Both of them pink bunnies. Richard is big; in height and weight, reads at the 2nd grade level, and has a child-like innocence like Darwin. How did he get Nicole? Anias, I call her Ms. Einstein, the baby of the family at 6. She's about half Gumball's height and five times smarter. She's basically smart enough to have graduated from a university, but for some reason she goes to Elmore Junior high with Gumball and Darwin. I think it's the stigma of being a Watterson.

"Morning boys!" Richard greeting them with his warm, somewhat dimwitted smile as they enter the dining room.

"Morning Mr. Dad!" Darwin replying the same way.

"Good Morning," Replied Gumball with a yawn. "Morning Anias."

The small bunny in her slightly perky voice says, "Morning. What do you have planned for the day?"

'_Oh, you know same old same old. Stimulating study sessions and homework,'_ I sarcastically think to myself.

"Oh, you know same old same old. Stimulating study sessions and homework," Gumball replied.

_What? _I asked shocked.

"What?" Everyone else asked the same thing, looking flabbergasted.

'_I know right he stole my sentence! Can he really hear me?'_

"Sike!" he said laughing. Everyone actually sighed in relief, they must of thought the world was coming to an end. He continues, "Me and Darwin are just gonna due the usual."

His mom enters with the breakfast she made, "Sometimes I wish that you would actually do that, you know?" She place the dishes on the table; scrambled eggs, slightly crispy bacon, and hash browns.

"Everything looks good honey," says Richard who looked at the food as if he hadn't eaten yesterday.

"Thanks Richard," replied Nicole.

After everyone got their share Gumball was staring at the hashbrowns on his fork.

'**You know this coulda been Idaho's cousin**,' he thought as I felt his mouth salivate.

'_Who thinks like that?'_ I yelled.

4 mind numbing hours later

Gumball and Darwin had finished gaming an hour early cause Nicole wanted them to get outta the house and play. So decided to play a quick game of "Dodj or Dahr" in the backyard. Now Gumball is walking to the park with a few scratches and what feels like a broken rib. How did he increase his pain threshold to the point of walking off broken bones.

"What are we gonna do at the park, dude?" Gumball finally asked.

"I don't know," Darwin replied with a look of questioning on his face. "Tobias just said to be at the park by 4 o'clock."

'**I hope this isn't a prank or something,**' thought Gumball knowing that Tobias pulls a couple of cheap tricks on Gumball and vice versa. They made it to the park, but didn't see the fluffy rainbow headed kid or the strip happy banana. As they entered Gumball sees a small white robot walking towards the rock formation near the lake.

"Hey, there's Bobert," said Gumball, "Hey, Bobert, over here."

Bobert turned his head to see who called out to him. He look in Gumball's direction and I guess used a zoom function as his eye did that unusual camera thing. He look as happy as a robot kid could and motioned for Darwin and Gumball to approach.

"Friend Gumball. Friend Darwin. It is quite elating to see you," Bobert greeted as they got closer.

_'I don't know why, but... I like the way this guy talks'_ I thought to myself.

**'How come he talks like that?'** thought Gumball. I already knew we differed in thoughts, but he doesn't hate the way Bobert talks. He just thinks it's different. Nothing wrong with that. Gumball's also "different."

"Hey Bobert," Darwin begins, "Do you know why Tobias wanted us to meet at the park?"

_'I know why,'_ I thought out loud. Sometimes I really wish Gumball could hear me here in the back of his mind. _'Who usually meets here on Sunday and what do they do?'_

"It is most likely to observe the cheerleaders as they practice their routine," informed Bobert, "They have scheduled to meet here every Sunday for the last six months."

"Oh," Darwin looked like he wasn't quite sure why Tobias would want to watch them. Isn't innocence precious? Gumball on the other hand... Well let me tell you what I feel his body doing (age appropriately). His heart is beating as fast as a jackhammer, his palms have gotten a bit clammy, and I feel a lovestruck smile on his face. If you don't know; Penny, the cute peanut with antlers, is a cheerleader. Gumball is helplessly in love with her, but to nervous to say this to her. He also doesn't know that she likes him the same way, but she doesn't appear nervous around him, not like he is around her anyway.

_'Come on, Gumball. Just breath,'_ I instructed, not like he can hear me.

**'I would totally hug Tobias if it wouldn't...'** he stopped in mid thought. **'Wait a minute'**

"Why are you here, Bobert?" he asked. "You don't seem like you would enjoy watching."

"He's hear to record everything," said a voice with a matter-of-fact tone. Gumball and Darwin looked around, but couldn't put a face to the voice. Then it spoke again, "Up here."

Gumball look and see Tobias looking down from the rock cliff. His rainbow face has this smug look on as if it's saying, "Nice idea, right? I thought of it before you could."

"Sup Tobias," greeted Gumball. "Where's Banana Joe?"

"He's up here looking for a good place for Bobert to catch everything," He replied. "Hurry and get up here or you'll miss everything."

Gumball didn't need to be told twice climbing up the slightly steep rock face. He was ignoring the sharp pain in his side from the hurt rib.

'Tsk... How can you not feel this pain in your side, dude,' I thought, 'you're not supercat or anything.' Now I realized that I'm whining while the Gumball, the one who's in control is brushing it off like nothing. I would feel kinda sad, I guess, if it wasn't for Gumball's emotions overwriting mine.

As Gumball reached the top he saw Tobias had set some small snacks to enjoy while watching the show. Banana Joe had directed Bobert where he could sit to see everything. Darwin had held out a fin to help Gumball up.

"How'd you beat me up here?" He asked.

Darwin pointed back to Bobert, "He used his extending legs. You could have hitched a ride if you didn't rush up the side." At this point I could feel Gumball's face heat up in embarrassment.

_'Think before leap, Gumball.'_ I'm starting to enjoy the thought of seeing the cheerleaders practice. Maybe that's Gumball "infecting" me again. _'Well lets see what's happening Gumball'_

Gumball strolled over to the edge and saw the cheerleaders getting warmed up. He could see everyone. Masami, the rich cloud; Molly Collins, the friendly sauropod; Teri, the cute hypochondriac paper bear; Carmen, the cactus; and Leslie, the potted flower whose also the only boy on the squad. Gumball's eyes scanned over the scene until he saw a certain peanut with antlers. Penny Fitzgerald, a nice girl with kind eyes and sweet voice, was leading the squad through small drills.

Gumball couldn't take his eyes off her. Since I could only see what he could see I learned to observe everything through the periphery of his sight. As I glanced around I noticed he was too close to the edge. I know he can take pain, but a fall from about three stories coupled with his hurt side and we're looking at hospitalization.

Nervously I try and say, _'Gumball... Slowly and safely... back away from th...'_

"GUMBALL!" Darwin calling him startled Gumball and he quickly turned. At this time his foot slipped off the edge. At the same time small pieces of the cliff cracked off. Now Gumball is falling and I'm along for the ride watching from the back of his mind. I scream in Gumball's mind as he screams out loud. I see the ground close in and at the last moment he closed his eyes. The impact hurt, a lot, and I could feel repeated hits along his back. The pressure from the last few hits lingered and I realized Gumball is now trapped under the rubble.

"Help me," I weakly think aloud as I lose consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the views and reviews you left. And to NeoNimbus, thank you for your helpful tip. I was kinda nervous 'bout this.**

**I Do Not Own The Amazing World of Gumball. That's Cartoon Network's property.**

**Nor do I own any songs referenced within the story (while writing I listened to a music app and heard some things that was relevant to my OC's thoughts).**

**This time Gumball's thoughts will not be heard by my OC, but my OC's is still in Italics.**

**There will be a poll to give him a name, after I figure out how to do that.**

**Well enjoy the story and again I apologize for sarcasm and mistakes.**

~Day 1 continues~

I felt pain throughout the entire body as I gained consciousness. Throbbing migraine from the blows to the head rocked me the moment I tried to think. Thinking straight was going to be painful. I tried to get my mental bearings, but then I realized something.

_ 'Gumball? Why aren't we moving?'_ I thought aloud. If I was conscious and Gumball wasn't I would still be able to hear and see his dreams, but... There wasn't a colorful array of chaos or emotion that is a constant with his dreams. I couldn't even hear his thoughts.

_ 'Please be ok...'_ I couldn't help but feel sad. As I cried on the inside I felt tears well up in his eyes. _'Thank goodness. He's alive... he's with me,'_ I thought to myself. As relief overtook me I began waiting for others to come and help get him out of the rubble. I don't know how long I waited, but after a while I was questioning why no one came to help. I'm pretty sure Darwin saw him fall so Tobias, Banana Joe, and Bobert should know he's under these rocks. Right?

_ 'Come on, Gumball wake up,'_ I weakly coaxed. _'Just open your eyes.'_ As I remembered the feeling of Gumball opening his eyes I saw that his eyes were slowly opening. The sight was pitch black. I couldn't see any light.

_ 'Great!'_ I weakly exclaimed. At the same time I heard him speak.

"Great..." he said weakly.

_ 'What?'_ I thought confused and at the same time...

"What?" he repeated.

_ 'How's that happening?'_

"How's that happening?"

I was scared. Why was he repeating what I thought? It couldn't be... could it? I remembered the feeling of Gumball making a fist then something unexpected happened. He made a fist.

"I... I-I have control?" I said aloud. At that moment I was so scared. Was Gumball... gone?

"No!" I weakly exclaimed. "You'll be alright, Gumball." I felt desperate. Gumball needed help and if no was coming... I'll help. Moving was second nature as I struggled to release our body from the rubble. The rocks and boulders were heavy, but my determination to get Gumball out gave me strength. As I finally got out I looked up and sighed thankfully. Then I realized that I made my first ever choice with my tragic freedom. This thought was confusing, but I was exhausted so I closed our eyes and slumped over slightly.

"We're out Gumball," I said, "We're out." I needed to get us home. I opened our eyes and saw something surprising. The park was empty and the sky was dark.

_ 'It's night?'_ I asked inwardly. _'Where did everyone go?'_ I was sore all over. It hurt to move, but I had to get help. I got up onto our feet and looked at our body. There no visible cuts, but I could feel the bruises. There were small scratches on our pads/palms. Gumball's clothes were dirty with one small rip at the knee of his jeans. and hobbled to the gate of the park. Gumball's body started to feel a little better as I kept going.

_ 'There we go, pain resistance to the rescue,'_ I thought._ 'Now to look for someone to take us to the hospital.'_ Walking down the sidewalk with no streetlight working gave off a feeling of not just dread, but of elation. The feeling of not being constricted by a body I couldn't control was incredible. Being forced to move in a way I didn't like or want felt wrong. I was in a mental prison, but now as free as can be. I felt conflicted with this feeling. I was here to help Gumball make right choices, safe decisions, or calculated risks. With being ignored, however, I grew to desire my own life... my own body.

"Is this my chance?" I said aloud feeling a slight smile creep onto my face. Shocked I slapped myself, "No! No! You can't think like that. Gumball is our responsibility and we can't abandon him."

_'This wasn't about me,'_ I thought. _'No one knows me. I can't forsake him for a life that isn't mine.'_ At that point I noticed someone ahead of me. They were under a working streetlight talking to someone out of view.

_ 'Finally someone.'_

Gathering new strength I began to briskly walk towards the person. As I got closer I could here them talking.

"By the way, did you here about the accident in the park today?" said a voice I didn't recognize. I began to slow down and just listened as I approached.

"Here about it? I was there, dude!" replied a voice I definitely knew.

_ 'Rocky Robinson!'_ I was glad to hear his voice, but I stopped when I realized... _'He was there?'_

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Gumball fall off that cliff,' He continued. "I thought he would be ok since he went through worse before."

"I guess that's true. I saw him and his friend jump off their school rooftop and land face first on the sidewalk," I cringed when Rocky's friend reminded me of that. The memory of Gumball and Darwin's detention escape is not pretty. "They got up and just limped off like it's something that happens all the time."

"Well," Rocky started again, "it kinda is. But back to the park scene. Just after Gumball hit the ground a lot rocks and boulders from the cliff fell over him. He was trapped under them."

"Wow, I can't believed he survived that," replied the other guy.

_ 'Wait... What?'_ I thought to myself. 'How do they know Gumball survived? We were buried under those rocks for hours!' I felt our face heat up with red-hot fury.

"I know right after me and his friends dug him out we called an ambulance to get him," Rocky said with a slightly sad tone in his voice. My anger subsided and was replaced with horrified confusion.

_'What does he mean? Gumball's right here... He's lying, he's got to be...'_ I wouldn't believe what I was hearing._ 'How could he have picked Gumball out of the rubble? We were still there. There's no way...'_ I drifted off into a nearby alley. I laid our, or should I say My, back against a wall. I was still listening to their conversation.

"I saw him as I left the hospital after my check up. He was being unloaded off the ambulance and rushed into the ER," commented Rocky's friend. "He didn't look too bad though. Just a few bumps, bruises, and small scratches."

Beep beep...

"Is that the alarm clock?" I quietly asked myself. "Right this is a dream. Gumball will wake up and I'll be back in his mind."

"Oh crap dude, it's almost midnight!" Rocky exclaimed, "I gotta get back home! My ol' man is gonna have a fit if I'm not home soon."

"Well you better hurry man," said his friend. "I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Yea, see ya," at that I heard the steps of someone running. It was getting closer so looked through the opening of the alley and for a brief second I saw Rocky running past. The look of worry on his face. I felt worried too. Not for the same reason, but because if what he said is true then...

"Who am I? What am I?"

I slowly my back slid down the wall until I was sitting down. I look about, yet not looking at my surroundings. I focus on nothing... I just sit there scared of the my own existence. I know that there are somethings that can't be explained. I know that most of them happen around the Wattersons, but...

_ 'What is gonna happen to me?'_ This question has been in my mind ever since I began to have my own mind within Gumball's. However, I never thought that this would happen. Not once.

I pick myself off the ground and exit the alley. I look towards the working streetlight, no one was under it anymore. I look about and notice the street sign, Broken Dreams Boulevard. Fitting since, for once, I'm all alone. I follow the street not knowing where else to go. Slowly I walked down the street in pain. The physical pain has ceased, but emotionally there was excruciating pain that I didn't know how to deal with.

_ 'Here I am dealing with an existential crisis at about 6 hours old.'_ I thought to myself trying to bring a smile to my face. I notice that my view has been blurred, I have been unknowingly crying. I stop and wipe my eyes. The fur on my face matted down with the tears I've cried. Even the fur on my hand sticking up like a cow-lick. The feeling of tears on my face and hand is not one I'm used to. Gumball was usually happy go lucky and never cried this much.

I shudder as I realize these memories aren't mine, but his. I and notice I have walked to a condemned apartment building at the end of the street. I look around and notice that I walked into the part of Elmore that Gumball never went. The feeling of the night air has finally penetrated my thoughts, it is an uncomfortable cold. Not sure what else to do I enter the condemned building.

The door lets out a long squeak as I forced it open. Everything from the broken stairs and reception desk is covered with a thick coat of dust. Most of the furniture in the rooms looked like it was from the late 90's; Pine shelves and dressers, what-used-to-be-white kitchens with ivy trellis wallpaper, and big pear prints on the walls.

_'The building looked as if no one took care of it for years,'_ I thought, _'might be why it was condemned.'_ I looked about the first floor of the building until I found what I really need, an intact bed. The last couple hours took a lot out of me, sleep is what I wanted.

_ 'I'll deal with my situation tomorrow, too tired,'_ I thought as I plopped face down into the musty bed. I closed my eyes and drifted off...

**Thanks for continuing to read.**

**There will be a poll on my profile page to determine my OC's name.**

**There is a theme to the choices can you tell me what it is.**

**If you have a guess send me a PM with your main choice of the names.**

**If you guess right I'll add one more vote towards it.**

**And once again thank you for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back.**

**Sorry for taking so long in updating. Balancing writing my stuff and life in general has proven difficult... And I like it. :)**

**Was surprised that anyone thought my story was good at all(No Sarcasm).**

**I think it's a given, but...**

**I apologize for minor (or major) mistakes and my sarcasm.**

**Well here's chapter 3.**

**Enjoy**

* * *

All I see is midnight purple shadows shifting and turning. It's all so familiar. I watch as the shadows converges to one spot in front of me. Its movement like water, it mesmerized me as it pulls itself into the spot.

'Beautiful,' is the only thing I thought.

The shadows pulled themselves into that spot leaving shining white walls in its place. I squint and shade from the light it creates. Looking about I feel an overwhelming sense of familiarity and fear. I look back at the shadows and notice that they're shaping themselves. The once formless amalgam of shadows has taken the shape of three doors, each one a different color. The one on the right is orange, the middle is blue, and the left is pink.

_ 'They look familiar,'_ I thought as I tried to put what has happened into something that made sense. The doors then opened with blinding lights coming from them. I closed and shielded my eyes as soon as the light hit them. I slowly opened them and noticed I was standing in a hall. Along the walls were red lockers that were periodically interrupted by brown doors.

_ 'Wait...'_ I begin to think, _'Is this... Elmore Junior High?'_ As I look around the hall and into the rooms. Each one so far had a blackboard with a big desk to its side and opposite a group of smaller desks.

_ 'This is weird,'_ I thought, _'but then again how is my situation normal?'_ I walk to the end of the hall where it turns a corner when I here some weird noises. They sounded slight rhythmic scraping and clanking. I slowly lean pass the corner to see what could be making those noises. As I look and see someone in a hospital gown with a crutch moving down the hall. They were coming in my direction thankfully, did not want my first actual dream to have someone's butt hanging out and mooning me.

I notice the person was getting closer and I can hear him calling out, "Hello... Is there anyone here?" His voice it was unmistakable, it was mine. That had to mean that...

"Hey!" I yelled as I came from around the corner.

"Ahh!" he fell onto his tail startled. "Wh-Who are you?" he asked nervously.

_ 'Really dude?'_ I thought to myself as I walk towards him. _'Wait...'_ I give myself a facepalm then look back Gumball.

"Who do I look like to you?" I ask him as I reach with my hand out to help him up.

"You kinda look like..." he begins as he gets up onto his feet, "Me?"

_ 'Well... I guess I would. This __**IS**__ my dream,'_ I thought to myself.

"Yeah..." he continues, "You look like me, but you have these weird looking dots on your face."

"Eh?" I responded.

"Right under your eyes, dude," he pointed out. I look around, but can't find a mirror and any reflecting items.

"Well, again, who are you?" he asks again. I look back at him wondering what I should tell him.

_ 'Can I really tell him what I am?'_ I ask myself.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway," I respond.

"Try me," was all he said

_ 'Well... It can't hurt, right? I mean it's not like he would remember this when he wakes up,'_ I start debating to myself. _ 'On the other hand, though, how would he react? Would he accept me or shun me?'_

"Hellloooo," he says in a somewhat distorted voice. I look at him wondering what just happened. It seems that he noticed this, "What the... What?" The distortion becomes more clear and it branches from his voice as the lockers begin melting along the hall.

"What's going on?" I ask worried, my voice also distorting.

"I don't know," he responds. The ceiling crumbles away due to an invisible force. In its place is a starry night sky that begins swirling around. Then columns shoot from the floor one by one. I feel scared, I just wanted to run away...

_ 'I can't leave Gumball,'_ I thought to myself. I turn and grab Gumball and tell him to run, but he was too afraid to move. As he opened his mouth to say something he thrown into the air by column that shot up from under him. I fall on my back and look up into the sky.

"GUMBALL!" I yell as I feel the floor begin to crumble under me. Before I could react the ground gives out and I fall.

"AAHHHH!" There was nothing to grab onto. I was falling into darkness. Still screaming I close my eyes so I wouldn't see what my fate would be. Then...

**~Day 2~**

BAM!

"Gah!" Pain entered my face as it slammed into something. My eyes well up in pain. I open them and see a room not entirely familiar. Pear prints along the wall and ivy trellis wallpaper in the adjacent kitchen reminds me of where I am. I seem to have fell out of that musty bed.

"What a way to wake up in the morning," I say aloud. I notice that there is light entering the room from a broken window over the bed. There is now a lot of dust in the air, must have disturbed it when I fell.

"Ahh... ah... snikt," I sneezed from the dust and got up off the floor. Looking around I instantly felt hurt. Not physically, but my heart and mind just felt depressed.

_ 'What should I do?'_ I asked myself. _'I have no friends, family, or anything. Just these ruined, copied clothes on my copied back._

_ 'Can't believe I'm brooding. Over something I had no control over.'_

I felt my face for any bumps or sore spots. When I reached my forehead there was a slight sting. I got up on my feet and looked for the bathroom. There was a door across the way of the bed that was left ajar. It creaked as I slowly opened it, revealing a busted mid-sized bathroom.

The toilet, on the right wall, covered with dust and possibly ancient refuse, _'no thanks.'_ Straight across from the door was the shower/bathtub, which once seemed porcelain white, now caked with dust and dirt. The sink, to the left of the door, had a corner broken off which found its way behind the toilet.

_ 'Okay... I can't make this work,'_ I thought as I looked over the room, _'but it's all I got.'_ I slowly walked to the sink avoiding broken glass and sink fragments. All while barefoot.

_ 'How come Nicole can't afford shoes for everybody?'_ I thought to myself. Standing in front of the sink I look into the mirror. All I see is dust. I take my hand and cover it with the edge of my sleeve then wipe the mirror. When I'm done I finally get to see My face.

_ 'Yeah... I'm a copy...'_ The face looking back at me was exactly like Gumball's, _'six whiskers, orange nose, pointy blue ears with a purple tint, and a..._

_ 'What the... what...'_ I look back at my ears and see that there's a faint purple/lavender tint within the fur on them.

_ 'Cool. Not entirely a copy,'_ I thought to myself. I go back over my face to see if there is anything else I missed. Immediately I see two deep purple dots under my left eye. Both were the size of a marker bottom. Even my right eye had the same dots under it.

_ 'That actually looks nice,'_ I thought smiling to myself. The joy I felt knowing that I'm not an exact copy filled my heart. I could see tears of happiness well-up in my eyes. I closed them and calmed down just a bit when...

Crash!

_ 'What the...'_ I thought after I heard a clamor. I went to the room door and slowly opened it. Not seeing anything, but still curious I left the room and stood in the middle of the hall. Not sure what made the noise I decided to not make a noise in response, instead I closed my eyes and listened. For a few seconds I couldn't hear anything, but my quiet breathing.

I was about to give up and head back to the room when I heard a low groan coming from down the hall to my left. I opened my eyes and slowly stalked down hall, making as little noise as possible with back to the wall on the right. I got to the end of the hall as it turns to the right and keeping close to the wall I peeked around the corner.

There it was, the thing that made that loud crashing noise. Sal Left Thumb, the fingerprint robber Gumball and Darwin unwittingly helped rob a convenience store, was lying on the ground unconscious. I looked up from him and saw an open window 6 ft high on the wall and snickered.

_ 'Really dude?'_ I taunted in my mind, _'Gumball jumped off the roof of four-story school, landed face first and limped away. Pfft. Weakling. Well what can expect of the guy who got knocked out after being hit with sausage?'_ I was about to walk away when I noticed his usual loot sack's goods spread across the floor. Stacks on stacks of money was all over the floor. I began debating on what I should do.

_ 'Ok, there is a lot of money here,'_ I started, _'and I have nothing, but the clothes on my back. And I doubt he counted all of it._

_ 'On one hand I could take a little for myself before he wakes up and leave him here. If I do that I wouldn't be any better than Sal. Or I could do the right thing get the cops and have him arrested. If I do that then Gumball will either get credit or I would be discovered as a "clone" of Gumball and sent somewhere for testing._

_ 'Hmmmm... Either take some money and be a common thief. Or report him and possibly be a test subject for the rest of my new life.'_

This is my first real choice away from Gumball. As a conscience I can't condone stealing, but then again, I'm not conscience anymore.

I look back at Sal and sigh as I make my decision...

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**Thanks for continuing to read Ticket to Life.**

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**Thanks again for following the story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome to chapter 4**

**The choice my of my OC's name has been decided by those who went and voted**

**It will be in this chapter he'll tell others**

**No more apologies, said sorry a lot already.**

**And since you continue to read I guess you have forgiven me.**

**Any Song referenced is the exact song I was listening to as I got to that point in my writing.**

**(Weirdly the song fits)**

**Also I went and took something from the first chapter, see if you notice it**

**Now...**

**Enjoy**

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_Before we continue I just want to say something. Don't you dare judge me for my decision. You will give your two cents and give me grief, but this isn't your life... It's mine. I have to live with my decisions now. Being a conscience meant I had to lead a weird blue cat down a morally correct road, but you what I failed._

_I gave him advice and he couldn't or wouldn't listen. And I... I don't know which is worse. Now I have my chance to live and decide for myself. You wanna know the differences between me and him? 1) I know what is the "right" and "wrong" decisions. 2) I can learn from MY mistakes. 3) He has a family and friends who can support him and help him when he makes a bad decision. I DO NOT._

_I don't want to have these reminders coming from random people who think they know what is best. You've never been in my position. I didn't run away. I wasn't given up by my parents. I just began my existence. The people I "know" don't... even know... that I exist._

_So remember that when you criticize or mock me. You've never been in my position and you never will._

~Day 2 Continues~

I have no one to turn to without fearing for my new life. Sal Left Thumb is unconscious on the floor right in front of me. I am in a condemned apartment from the 90s. Nothing to my name and there is a lot of money spread out on the floor of the hall.

I look at Sal then back at the money. I close my eyes.

_'No excuses...'_ I think to myself, _'Make a choice'_

At that I open them bend down and pick up one stack at my feet. I Seeing as all the bills were fifties I thumbed and counted each bill. This is a skill I developed in Gumball's head when he wouldn't read or count and just went.

As I finished I knew that each stack had at most $1000 dollars. That was more than what Nicole had at any given time. Without even realizing I did it, I had pocketed that one stack.

_'Wha...'_ I stopped that reprimanding thought and replied, _'I have nothing and he's a thief with all this money. I might not deserve it, but what would I be able to do without it?'_

At that slowly backed away from the scene, turned around, rounded the corner, and went back to the room I used earlier. Once I got back I closed the door and sat on the musty bed with my eyes closed. I had this chill in my spine that wouldn't go away. My first actual choice, that could have consequences, has me strung out. I started "debating" with myself, another thing that started in Gumball's mind, about what I just did.

_'Well first time out and I can't do the right thing,'_ I thought to myself.

In my mind I responded, _'What do you expect? I don't have any support system. And the fact remains that this was a better decision.'_

_'How is this better!?'_ I fired back. _'You just stole from a criminal! You could be counted as an accomplice.'_

_'Right,'_ I thought sarcastically, _'Like anyone is gonna be able to link him to me, the boy with NO HISTORY!'_

WHAP!

There was a sharp pain in my forehead and knuckles. Opening my eyes I saw that I just double punched myself in the head. I guess that is a defense mechanism for my mind, so in wouldn't tear itself apart? Now I'm having questions about my own body.

I remove my fists from my head and look at them. I don't feel as stressed anymore. As a matter of fact, I feel calmer than ever. Since the time I woke up under those rocks in the park, I have been one stressed out ball of fur.

"Thank you," I say aloud to myself

_'Well,'_ I think to myself, _'what's done is done. I'll deal with the consequences when I cross that bridge.'_

"Graahh!" Someone just let out a pained shout. That nearly made me fall off the bed.

_'Guess Sal finally woke up,'_ I thought to myself. I became nervous once again, hoping he didn't count the money before getting here. Being as quiet as possible I listen for Sal. I hear heavy footsteps coming down the hall. The pattern makes me believe that Sal is limping. The sound got louder and louder until it stopped right outside my door.

_'Really?'_ I thought whacked out by stress, _'Right outside my door? Guess the universe just wants me hurt.'_

"Heh. Those suckers ain't gonna find me here," I heard him, his voice as crass as ever. Although muffled by the door his breathing and speech seemed labored.

_'He's still hurt from his fall,'_ I thought to myself. Knowing that he was in pain calmed me. Not because I like the idea he's hurt, but it would give me a chance to overpower him if I'm found. Hoping I wouldn't have to do that, I listened to see if he was moving, but as luck would have it I heard...

Bump..

It sounded as if something was resting against the door to the room.

_'Really?'_ I thought to myself. _'Can't believe this. Here I am in a messed up and abandoned apartment, with a grand in my pocket; which I took from a criminal, and said criminal is resting against the door to the very room I'm hiding in. Karma? BUMP YOU!'_

"This place seems like a nice spot to lay low in,' I heard Sal say from the other side of the door. "Nobody lives around here and, from the looks of the traffic on the way here, nobody comes through here very often."

_'Again karma... Bump you.'_

I began looking around to see what I could do to get out of this situation before I'm found. I slowly got up and looked at the window above the bed. It was slightly open and seemed wide enough to get my head through. Looking back at the door I knew that there were only a few choices; Try and stay quiet in this room and hope he doesn't open the door, open the door myself and try to run before he gets a chance to rob me, or climb up and out through the window and sneak away.

_'Well,'_ I thought to myself, _'let's hope my upper arm strength is good.'_

I slowly stepped up on the bed, glad that after all those years it doesn't squeak, and reached up to the window. My arms couldn't reach, just a couple of inches too short. I knew I had to jump for it, but that would make some noise that Sal might hear. I steeled my nerves took my leap...

"uhhn..."

_'Crap!'_ I thought as I let that grunt slip.

"Wazzat?" Seems that Sal caught it. As I struggled to pull my body up to the window I could hear him fumbling around on the other side of the door.

Clic-clic-click

I heard the knob of the door rattle as he began to turn it. Now with fear with filling me I found new strength and pulled myself up squeezing my head through the opening when...

BAM!

The door sounded like it was thrown open, but luckily for me I fell face first in some dirt under the window. I was outside of the apartment building now. There was a small wooded area behind it. As I heard Sal rummage through the room I picked myself and ran into the woods. I just kept running hoping I wouldn't be caught. I looked back to see if I was being followed and tripped on a root of a tree. I quickly rolled to the side and looked back. I didn't see the building anymore and couldn't any leaves being crushed except those under me. I picked myself up and looked around, seemed that I made to the end of the wooded area. Exiting the woods I found myself on a sidewalk that I remembered.

_'OH WOW!'_ I thought, _'This is near the strip mall. Wait... what are the odds..?'_

HONK!

A car whizzing by blew its horn at me and I fell on butt. I look up and see was about to step off the sidewalk.

_'Can't get caught up in my thoughts.'_ I got up to my feet and dusted myself off when I realized that my clothes were even dirtier than after the boulder accident.

"Well," I began, "can't keep these." I followed the road to the strip mall, all the while no one recognized me as Gumball. When I arrived I looked for a clothing store to replace the stuff I was wearing. Then I found one store that Gumball never entered and nervously entered.

The first thing I notice is the smell, a heavy aroma; that reminded me of Granny Jojo's house; hit me like a freighter.

"Whoa... Didn't expect that." I said aloud without thinking. Coughing a bit I shook my head a bit and got used to to the smell. I looked up and noticed a clock saying it was 10:34.

_'Guess I "should" be in school. Oh well.'_ I looked about the store for anything for me. I found frilly blouses, plaid pants, and bowler hats. I was in a shop for the elderly.

_'Guess there's nothing for me,'_ I thought as I left. I then saw store across the way that had mannequins wearing clothes aiming for young adults and teens. Its name was "Quest" 'Couldn't hurt to check it out."

As I entered some music playing. As I listened to it I heard a verse:

Up on Melancholy Hill  
There's a plastic tree  
Are you here with me?  
Just looking out on the day of another dream

I continued to listen to the song until it end. Don't think Gumball ever heard that song or group before, but I liked it. I felt a little better and went around looking for some stuff. Most of the clothes were high up on the walls, but they had shoes displayed just about everywhere.

_'Ok,'_ I thought, _'I can now get shoes... Nah. It would be kinda weird now that I'm used to going barefoot.' _ I pass the shoes and look at the t-shirts displayed.

"Can I help you?" asked someone with a little I-wish-wasn't-here-right-now tone. I turn towards her and see young raccoon teenager about 3 inches taller than me. Her fur was light gray with a black streak going across here eyes. She was wearing a lightly faded purple collared shirt, with name tag that said Myra, and black work trousers. She two rivet piercings in her right ear and was sucking on a sucker.

I didn't know I was staring at her until she snapped in my face and said, "Earth to kitty."

"OH, uhh... sorry," I said embarrassed looking at my feet. I could feel my face burning after that.

All she did was sigh and asked, "Shouldn't you be in school right now?"

I looked back at with a stone face and replied, "Shouldn't you?"

"Touché, Kitten," she said with a slight smirk on her face. "So," she continued, "whatcha looking for?"

Looking around at the clothes then back at what I'm wearing I replied, "Well... I want something in the same style of what my current outfit used to be."

Myra chuckled a little at the tears and rips in my clothes, "Did you get in a fight with a dirty blender?"

"Nah," I answered, "a pile of rocks."

She put one hand over her eyes and shook her head, all the while smirking.

_'Guess I made a little bit of her day,'_ I thought. She took her hand down and went and looked at a couple of shirts til she took down a forest green long sleeve undershirt, a lavender t-shirt, and a purposely faded pair of gray jeans.

As she came back she handed me the clothes and said, "Here try these on. The the dressing rooms are over by the counter. By the way you wanna keep the clothes you got on?"

I looked back at the clothes I was already wearing. "No."

"Well, I'll get small bag for those and take them to the Salvation Army... or the dumpster out back," is all she said leading me to the dressing room. She had me enter and left to get the bag.

I locked the door and began taking off the rags that were once clothes. As I was standing there I realized that the underwear I was wearing, also a copy of Gumball's, was a mess.

_'Oh my g...'_ I thought gagging at the thought of me wearing them for all this time. Then something soft hit my head and fell to the ground. It was a pack of boxer-briefs.

"From how your clothes looked I... I'm guessing you might need those," Myra loudly said with a chuckle.

"Thanks..." I said as my face once again felt warm.

_'Really?'_ I thought, _'she must like to make me feel embarrassed. She doesn't even know me though.'_

I changed my underwear and put on the clothes given to me. I looked at myself in the mirror.

_'I feel different from him,'_ I thought as I looked at the person in the mirror, _'like I'm separating from him more and more.'_

At that moment I noticed another song playing;

Put to rest

What you thought of me

While I clean this slate

With the hands

Of uncertainty

So let mercy come

And wash away

What I've done

I'll face myself

To cross out what I've become

I was getting lost in the music when heard banging on the door.

"You done in there, Kitten?" I heard Myra asking.

"Yea..." was all I said as I picked up the clothes I changed out of. I saw a plastic store bag being pushed under the door.

"Use this for those rags you wore," Myra said. I heard her steps as she walked away from the door. I took the money from the pants I wore and placed my clothes in the bag.

_'Why was she being nice to me,'_ I began thinking as I pocketed the money, _'I know I don't look like I can even pay for this, so why even humor me?'_

I exited the dressing room and walked up to the counter. Myra was behind it tapping on the register.

"Looks like the store just lost about $70.34..." she said softly not knowing I could hear her.

"Don't tell me you think I can't pay," I said startling her.

Looking at me with that 'really?' face that seemed so natural on her face. "You saying you can?" she asked as if she 'knew' I couldn't.

"Let me have three more of the same outfit, that black backpack on the wall behind you, and..." I said looking around til I saw... "those black desert goggles on the stand and I'll pay."

With a questioning look she rang them up and said, "If you can pay for this I'll give my employee discount. It'll be $143.12, with the discount"

Without taking out all the money took out three fifties and smugly said, "Will this cover it?" giving them to Myra. She looked dumbstruck then embarrassed as she took the money and swiped them with a marker.

_'Oh I hope they aren't fake,'_ I thought, just now realizing what the marker was for, _'Do you know how grief it caused me even pocketing that money?'_

"Wow," she began, "I can tell you I wasn't expecting you to be a high-roller, Kitten."

"I know," I replied, "that blender did a number on my clothes, eh?"

We both chuckled as she gave me my change. I placed the change in a separate pocket and started packing the other clothes into the backpack. When I was done she gave me the goggles.

"Well, thanks for the business, Kitten," she said to me as I was about to leave the store.

"Thanks for the help, Myra," I replied as I left. The time on the clock above the door said it was 11:21.

I walked further into the strip and looked around for an ol' school theater playing old movies for $5. The one playing was a film titled Casablanca and Its next play time was at 12:05 I decided to take a look at the movie and went up to the ticket vendor. I asked for a ticket When I saw who was the vendor was, and no it wasn't Larry. The muffin lady from the cosmetic testing and the temp agency.

"You sure you want to see this movie, kid?" she asked, "It's not an "action-packed" movie, you know?"

_'Why the air quotes?'_ I thought for no reason at all.

"I can guess," I said in response to her questions, "it was made in the 40's, right? Anyway, I think I should broaden my horizons."

"Well ok, kid," she said, "it'll be $5 exact." I took the $5 from my change and paid for my ticket. I went in gave my ticket to the ghost attendant in the front. As I passed him by I looked about the theater. The bright yet faded red carpet felt nice on my pads. The black peeling paint had an inviting feel. I got to the doorway for the room playing the film and went through. There were a total of 7 people, not counting me. Most were elderly, but there was one other kid Gumball's age up near the front. I walked down the aisle to where he sat and quietly asked, "Can I sit there?" motioning to the seat to his right near the middle of the room.

He looked up at me then the seat. He was a dog kid with mahogany colored fur with a white ring around his left eye. He was wearing dark tank-top, black jean shorts and red sneakers. He scooted his legs in to let me by.

"Thanks," I said quietly as I scooted by and sat down. The film began just as I sat down. Not long into the film it introduced the protagonist, Rick Blaine.

_'Rick, eh?'_ I thought, _'Nice name.'_ And I sat there next to the kid and continued to watch the film.

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**Thanks for reading**

**My OC, whose new name is referenced, will be having an inner monologue at times.**

**That was how he started off chapter one.**

**This my longest chapter so far, tell me if this is a plus or minus in the reviews**

**and I will see if I will take that into account when continuing the story.**

**The Poll has been closed.**

**Thanks again and please continue to punch**

**his "Ticket to Life"**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome back**

**I am Grey and this is my fic.**

**No announcements other than this chapter**

**Sooo...**

**I don't own The Amazing World of Gumball. Just the OC in this story.**

**Enjoy**

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I was awake through the entire film of Casablanca, its play like feel had me intrigued. With so little action I understood my kids Gumball's age and younger wouldn't "like" it. As evidence the dog kid to my left was fast asleep, snoring softly as the credits began to role.

_'If he was just gonna sleep through the movie,'_ I began to think, _'why waste the money?'_ Looking around I notice the elderly people had gotten up and left.

'They move quick for octogenarians,' I thought. I got up and was about to leave when I realized the other kid was still asleep. Since he slouched in his seat it would be hard to get by him. Against what would be "better judgment" I poked the side of his head to stir him from his sleep.

"Dude?" I said softly as I continued to poke him. He didn't even acknowledge that so I put my hand on his shoulder and gently shook him.

_'Still out,'_ If you don't know, one the best ways to wake people without causing a commotion, more than half the time, is to annoy them while they try to sleep. That was how Gumball would wake Darwin or Anais.

I didn't want to be a jerk, but I also didn't want to leave this guy here and get in trouble with the ushers. He seemed bent on sleeping in this place though. Stopping for a moment I looked about for anyone else. No elderly people and the usher has yet to come clean up. I looked back at the dog kid, took a deep breath and prepared for any backlash I was about to get. Crouched down and, while slightly biting the tip of my upper lip, pinched his floppy right ear. Hard.

I was prepared for yelping, an attack, or biting, but when his eyes opened... Let me give a play by play.

First, I pinched his ear while not using my claws. Secondly, his eyes shot open looking as if they were about to shoot out of his head. Within a split-second a mahogany fist shot towards my face. I saw it coming, and I don't know how but it was like time moved slowly. I could see the slight movement of the fur as the fist cut through the air. I noticed the motion of this guy's tank-top was also slowed down. I could feel myself sway back with his fist following my path.

My slid my right foot back as I leaned back trying to avoid the blow. My arms raised to protect my face. His punch connected with my left forearm and threw me back. Everything went back to its usual pace as I fell onto the seats behind me on my left.

"Whoa! Dude!" I yelled.

"You think it's ok to pinch people while they sleep!" he spat with a slight Hispanic accent. His eyes were burning in rage as he cracked his knuckles. His face contained a scowl that almost scared me as much as Nicole's scares Gumball. I put my hands in front of me as if to say "wait-a-minute."

_'My goodness! Don't hit me anymore, man!'_

"I was just trying to to wake you," I started, "the film's over and everyone else is gone." He looked around and noticed the room was indeed empty, save for us and the seats. His face softened, but kept the scowl.

"Next time," he started as looked back at me, "don't go hurting people who are sleeping."

"Noted, dude," I replied rubbing my hurt arm. He moved towards me and helped me up. Standing up I noticed he was only half an inch taller than me. His eyes, while not holding his anger anymore, had an "I'm Bored" feel to them.

We made are way to the aisle and began to leave the theater. On the way out I noticed an old clock saying it was 1:52 P.M. At that time I realized that I had no idea how Gumball was.

_'EJH should be letting out soon,'_ I thought to myself, _'I should see if anyone knows about Gumball's condition'_ I felt like crap for not even thinking about that until now.

"Hey," I heard behind me. Turing to see who it was, I saw the dog kid looking down the strip and then back at me. His face much softer than earlier, somewhat kind. "Shouldn't you be in school?" he asked.

I decided to tell him a half truth. "I'm not in school yet. Haven't registered."

"Really?" he said with a raised eyebrow, "I coulda sworn that I see walking down the hall with an orange fish here and there."

Doing my best not to react to his statement I asked him, "Where do you go to school?"

"Elmore Junior High," he answered. "And before you ask me, I was suspended for a week for fighting.

"Stupid, bomb-headed jerk," he muttered under his breath.

_'Oh...'_ I thought, _'That guy was the main bully in detention after Gumball and Darwin tried to cheat on a math test. He had a short fuse.'_ I slapped my forehead for the pun I unintentionally thought.

"You ok, man?" he asked.

"Yeeaaa..." I replied, feeling awkward about the movement I made. "Sorry about what happened in there... uh..."

"Eddy is my name," he said seeing I didn't know his name. "You?"

I hadn't thought about what I should call myself. I tried to think of names right then.

_'Winston? Too old fashioned. Matsuo? Too weird. Atticus? Too Greek...ish? Jiminy? What am I, a puppet? Got it!'_

"My names Richard, but you can call me Rick," I said after I thought of Rick Blaine from the Casablanca film.

"Rick... Alright," he said thinking about something. "Well if you end up goin to EJH or walking down this strip during my suspension then I'll see you around." As he said that he walked away up the strip. "OH!" he exclaimed turning back towards me rubbing his shoulder, "And sorry for throwing a punch at you."

"No worries," I replied, "it was my fault you did so in the first place."

He nodded and went on his way. I watched him walk around a corner and out of eyesight. I knew how to get to school from here, but I didn't know what I would do if I learned something bad about what happened yesterday. I calmed myself and reminded myself that Gumball survived being flattened, beaten, pummeled, and burned.

_'Being buried by rocks would just be another day,'_ I thought. Exhaling my nervousness, not literally, I walked down the strip until I found the road. I walked the sidewalk further in to town looking around as I went. I found myself going past Gumball's neighborhood and I stopped in front of the Watterson house. I saw that Nicole's car was gone, she was most likely either at work or the hospital watching over Gumball. Looking around some more I went across the walk way and up to the porch and peeked through the window.

The sight was not much different from normal. Richard Watterson, the laziest person in Elmore; since the summer '83, was sitting on the couch with his head thrown back. He had fallen asleep watching T.V. Usually one would tell someone like this to get a job, but if he did... Well... the universe would collapse on itself.

_'Yea...'_ I thought looking at him, _'stay unemployed. It's for the best.'_ Seeing as no one else was home I backed away from the window and stepped off the porch. As I walked down the walk way I reached into a small compartment of my backpack and pulled out the goggles and put them on.

_'Might not fully disguise me,'_ I thought, _'but as long as no one paid close attention they won't see me as Gumball.'_ The goggles fit snugly on my eyes and the straps didn't feel uncomfortable around my head. They were clear with minor distortion around the edge of the lenses.

I walked to the right and went on down the sidewalk past the Robinson's house. As I walked I began to think of a way to sneak into the school.

_'Obviously I can't just walk in as if I am Gumball,'_ I thought to myself, _'if something had happened to him then that would be strange._

_'But really, do you think that sneaking in would be productive?'_ I replied to myself. _'If you get caught, what would you do? Your fears could become reality._

_'The thing is simple. I will keep outta sight from everyone and hide in an empty class room if needed._

_'It might be better to go to the hospital instead of the school, if you're just checking on Gumball._

_'That might have been a good idea if it wasn't for the fact that the hospital has cameras and an ever-present nurse see who comes and goes. I try to go there I might get caught. I sound like Gumball and, apart from the purple dots under my eyes and purple fur on my ears, I look just like him. It would be better to go to school since there are no cameras or monitoring system while kids are in class. I mean Rocky is nice and all, but aware of his surroundings he's not.'_

As I debated with myself the school came into view.

_'Here I go'_ I thought. I walked to the front and went up the steps to the doors, one pink, one blue, one orange.

_'Just like my dream last night,'_ I thought thinking back to last night. I pushed the pink one open and went through, keeping close to the wall and lockers. When I passed a classroom I kept my head down and crouched so no one could see me through the small windows in the doors. As I stalked through the halls I noticed the clocks saying it was 2:23.

_'They get out in 12 minutes,'_ I reminded myself. My heart was beating fast as I became more and more nervous. I needed to get to Ms. Simian's class, to find out info about Gumball.

_'Hopefully Darwin's here and said something about what happened to Gumball.'_ I thought. As I rounded a corner towards Ms. Simian's classroom I saw Rocky standing on a ladder doing maintenance on a PA system next to a set of period bells. He was right across from Ms. Simian's door. I swallowed the lump in my throat and pressed on. As I got closer to the classroom I heard Rocky humming as he worked on the system.

Seeing as how he was actually absorbed in his task I knew he wouldn't just turn to look. Taking this chance and I quickly, but quietly, made my way to the door of Ms. Simian's class. When I reached the door I turned to see if Rocky had moved. He didn't, so put my ear to the door and listened.

"...mber that tomorrow is club day," I heard a high-pitched and slight screechy voice say, "so class will get out a 45 minutes earlier."

Ms. Simian, a 300,000 year old baboon, was not Gumball's favorite

"Ms. Kreuger."

"Yes, Ms. Simian," I heard a girl's voice, it sounding as if it was annoyed. Carrie Krueger, the emo ghost, is a friend of Gumball's and always talks about how she can't feel anything but pain.

_'One day, if I make myself known, I'll call her on that,'_ I thought.

"I would like for you to take Gumball the assignments we worked on today," said Ms. Simian.

"What? Why can't Darwin do it?" responded Carrie, "I mean, He lives with him."

"Yea," I heard Darwin chime in.

"Well," started Ms. Simian, "take this into account; Darwin Watterson, not too long ago, was a "pet" fish in the Watterson house. He grew legs and began speaking, which is an amazing feat; but he still has the attention span of an infant apple. So, can you understand why I can't entirely trust him with giving Gumball his assignments?"

I heard a defeated sigh then, "Yeah..." from who I assume to be Carrie. What followed was a painfully awkward silence.

"I feel awkward," said Darwin.

_'So do I, Darwin,'_ I thought.

"Besides," continued Ms. Simian, "you wouldn't be going out of your way. You live closer to the hospital than anyone else."

After that I heard the bell ringing for school to be over then...

"AHH!"

BAM!

I turn to see that Rocky had fallen off the ladder and knocked himself out. I got up to see if he was ok when I heard the door being opened. I don't know how, but before the door fully opened I had rounded the corner and was bolting for the school's front doors. I was almost there when I saw a tall cloud man come out of another classroom in front of me.

_'OH COME ON!'_ I yelled in my mind. He had not seen me yet, but I could hear a minor stampede; buried under Tina's stomps; coming from down the hall. I frantically searched for an area to hide when...

_'THE LOCKERROOM!'_ I mentally yelled again. I turned and ran down an adjacent hallway towards the school showers. When I got there I basically slammed into the doors, 'fear will make you do stupid things,' and fell. I quickly picked myself up and ran into the boy's locker room.

Thankfully, nobody usually stays behind after school unless they have detention. I looked to see if I could get out the windows, but they didn't open enough for me to squeeze through. I knew, now, that I had to find a place to hide just in case someone would come in. The only places to hide in were one trash tin and a hamper filled with 'used' towels.

_'Ok, Universe,'_ I thought, _' I'm getting real tired of your crap.'_ I chose the trash tin to hide in since it was big enough to hide my entire body and wasn't full of "trash" trash, just some used paper towels and crumpled stationary.

_'Who takes stationery to the locker room?'_ I asked myself. I went and sat in a corner near the tin tin. I would hide there when I hear someone coming. I hid in the the locker room for awhile just waiting until I believed it would be alright for me to leave. As my feet began to tingle painfully, after they had fell asleep, I stood up and walked around the room to get the feeling back.

_'Ok,'_ I began thinking to myself, _'I have waited long enough.'_ I had gotten tired of staying in this room. I went to the door and turned the handle gently. As I slowly opened I peeked through the opening I didn't see anyone or hear any footsteps. I entered the hall and gently closed the door behind me. I stalked down the hall towards the front of the building, the clocks notifying me that it was 3:04. I reached the entrance without any incident and waltzed right out.

grrr...

I heard a slow growl once I was a block away from the school. Then I felt a slight uneasiness in my stomach. I had finally felt my first hunger pain.

"Right," I sighed, "I haven't eaten since Gumball's breakfast yesterday." I knew that I needed to eat something, but couldn't risk going to any restaurant for fear of running into one of Gumball's friends. I decided that I would go the supermarket, since there are so many aisles I can slip away if anyone noticed me.

_'Besides,'_ I thought, _'not a lot of people do they're grocery shopping on Mondays here.'_ The Supermarket was right across from the strip mall so I just went back the way I came, avoiding the Watterson's neighborhood. My feet hurt a bit from all the walking today so I knew that afterwords I would have to find some place to rest. I had arrived at the supermarket and thought about what I might need as I was there. I got a cart and made a mental list of supplies; toothbrush and toothpaste, bath soap, a pack of bottled water, and food that didn't need to be cooked or put in a fridge.

Knowing I couldn't carry all the supplies I needed I went to the aisle where they sold bags. There were backpacks, computer bags, suitcases, but I needed something that would be able to hold my supplies and mobile enough if I had to go through certain area; wooded or desert like. I ended up choosing a medium crimson and grey gym bag and put it on the small area at the bottom of my cart.

Going to the produce aisle I was glad to see I was right to come here. I didn't see anyone I recognized from Gumball's life except the lizard lady who slapped him with a fish. Since they didn't have a lengthy interaction with each other she didn't much notice me. I got a cheap toothbrush and toothpaste, a twelve pack of bottled water, and some bath soap. All I needed was to find some food that didn't need to be cooked, but could last. I ended up in the international section of the food aisles. I noticed that there were a bunch of dried foods. I had gotten some dried fruits such as; banana chips, apples, cranberries and and raisins; also dried meats; chorizo, lountza, and a variety of jerky.

Feeling like this was a sufficient haul I took the cart and went to the check out counter.

"Oh no," a slightly pinched voice said as I approached the checkout area.

_'Really?'_ I thought to myself amazed; I knew that voice belonged to, _'I didn't see him at the clothing store, the old fasioned movie theater, or anywhere else, but the moment I feel like everything is going fine at the supermarket he turns up.'_

I lift my head to see the guy working check; Laurence "Larry" Needlemeyer.

"Watterson," he said acknowledging me, but not in a kind way.

For the list of people who hate Gumball let me put him on it also. The entire Watterson family had done something to him, directly or indirectly, that causes him pain or causes him to be fired from one of his many jobs he had; their fault he has so many jobs to begin with.

"Larry," I say feeling the awkwardness rise, "let me just get these, pay and I'll be out of your hair."

He sighed. "Fine, let's just hope you can pay for them," is all he said before he rang up everything. "The total is $297.83." The look he had on his face made it clear that he didn't think I could pay for it.

I went into my pocket and pulled out six bills, "Here," I gave him the money. With quiet surprise he used a marker and marked each bill. Seeing that they weren't fake he went and gave me my change, $2.17. I had organized all my supplies into the gym bag and was on my way out.

"You know," I said as I turned to face Larry. I could feel my face drop a little as I continued, "I'm sorry, Larry."

"For what?" he asked kinda thrown off by my statement and look.

"Everything the Watterson family put you through," I answered, "whether it be making you lose your job...s or getting in the way of your marriage proposals to your girlfriend.

"We don't mean to cause any harm," now feeling my face heat up in embarrassment, "we just seem to be dysfunctional and unruly, but we usually try to do the right thing. It just doesn't work out for us. And for that I'm sorry."

I looked away and just walked out the store. I don't know what made me say that or why I felt like I needed to apologize, but it seemed like I just had to.

I found myself walking down Broken Dreams Boulevard once again. Entering the apartment building at the end and going into the room I used previously. Sal was nowhere to be found. I just sat on the musty bed, took off the backpack and gym bag, and thought about my day. I didn't leave that room at all for the rest of the day. I sat there and ate enough jerky to calm my hunger. I don't know how long I just sat there, but after a while I laid back and closed my eyes. I wasn't sleepy or tired I just wanted to think. I don't know when, but while I was thinking I had fallen asleep.

* * *

**I found myself writing this chapter unsure of where it was going, it might seem obvious after reading it. I didn't just plow through either.**

**I just started writing and found that my mind took this story somewhere without me realizing it.**

**I find this odd, a good kind of odd. And I wonder where it'll take it.**

**P.S. Gonna start writing a Steven Universe fic soon. It will not delay this one, but life will.**

**P.P.S. I have other fic ideas that I realized, upon trial, I am not suited to write. If anyone reading this, who are accustomed to writing action and crossovers or looking for a starting point...**

**I have some ideas that you might be interested in.**

**LoK x Infamous: Second Son**

**OR**

**Teen Titans x Chronicle**

**If you want to know more message me and I'll send you some info.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I hate to be "That Guy", but...**

**What does it mean to live and to be alive?**

**While writing this I began putting myself in Rick's shoes. And... I find myself having headaches asking myself the questions that he would ask.**

**Don't get me wrong, I like where the story feels like its going.**

**I write it and go back over it only to correct mistakes I have made.**

**I just wanted to vent, so I am sorry for this strange soliloquy.**

**Here's Chapter 6...**

**Enjoy!**

**P.S. I had made a minor mistake in the first chapter regarding Gumball's clothes which was corrected in this chapter.**

* * *

"AAAHHHHHHHH!"

The moment I close my eyes I find myself falling from the sky. I look around and see the town of Elmore far under me and closing in fast. I'm in free fall and I don't know how to not smash my face into the pavement.

"OH COME ON, UNIVERSE!" I scream out after I catch my breath. "WHY AM I GOING THROUGH THIS!?" I look at the ground and notice that I am gonna hit the ground any second now. I close my eyes and embrace my fate.

_'Please...'_ I thought accepting it, _'just don't hurt too much.'_ Then I felt something going along the length of my body. I opened my eyes too see a broom that I instinctively and tightly grabbed hold of. I then saw that my descent was slowing before coming to a complete stop inches from the ground.

"What the..." I said aloud, my nerves still tensed. "Why am I now I'm levitating upside-down a foot from the ground?"

"Hehe... You rhymed," I heard my voice say, but it didn't come from my mouth. I looked to see where that voice came from and saw another me riding atop flying broom. Leveling myself on the broom I was holding onto I then noticed he didn't have the purple fur on his ears or the dots under his eyes. Instead he had solid blue fur all over his head, hands, and feet. He was wearing a some faded grey denim jeans and tan-ish long-sleeved shirt.

"G-Gumball?" I asked kinda not sure what to think.

"Yeah..." he said before looking at me with a puzzled face, "Wait a minute. You're the me from my dream from yesterday!"

Don't know why, but I was kinda annoyed by that statement, "I'm not, quote "another you" unquote. I'm me and you are you. And before you get confused, my name's Rick."

"OH! You're named after my dad," he beamed and I felt even worse.

"Yea... no, I'm named after Rick Blaine from Casablanca," I told him. He looked into space and began thinking about something.

"Casa... blanket?" he asked me.

_'Right... kinda forgot he wasn't "cultured,"'_ I thought to myself shaking my head.

"Let's just..." started looking down at the broom I'm riding, "get going, I guess. Aren't these brooms from Hector's mom's broom closet?"

"Yeah," Gumball responded, "I sometimes dream of flying on them again. Without having to calm Hector down."

_'I remember that afterwords Nicole had to buy you another computer since you destroyed it to avoid enraging Hector again.'_

"Right... well," I said as stood and balanced on the broom, "since this is a dream, thank goodness, I might as well have some fun."

"That's the point," Gumball replied, "but why do you keep appearing in my dreams?"

"Me appearing in your dreams?" I asked, "I thought this was my dream!"

_'Wait...'_ I thought to myself, _'Are our dreams connected?'_

At that time the wind began to pick up. The cold air ruffling my fur felt nice, but I had a bad feeling about it. I looked around and noticed a giant Masami in the sky. Being a cloud girl it's not strange for them to control weather, but why was she in either of our dreams. The cloud girl seemed like she was sighing, which caused the wind to pick up.

"Do you usually dream of a giant Masami, Gumball?" I asked, "I could have sworn you liked Penny." I smirked as I said that and looked at Gumball. His face was priceless, embarrassment mixed with a little anger shown on it.

"DUDE!" he shouted. I just laughed and flew off riding the broom like a skateboard. Being in a dream made this easier, even though I had inherited Gumball's good sense of balance. With a quick glance behind me I saw Gumball in pursuit, it seemed that his mood lightened a bit and he was now enjoying this dream more.

For what seemed like hours we were racing all through Dream Elmore, Gumball named it that, and had a blast. We never seemed to get tired and just hung out all that time. We stopped at the top of the mountain near town and looked out over Dream Elmore.

"Why do you think we have the same dream?" he asked. I could guess at why, me once being his conscience, but didn't want him to worry or freak out after telling him so...

"I don't know," I said, "kindred spirits?"

"Eh?" he looked dumbstruck.

"Never mind."

_'I can't use higher vocabulary around him, can I?'_ I thought to myself. Then I heard something, but didn't know what it was.

Be-beep be-beep be-beep

The sound was faint.

"What is that?" I asked aloud. Looking around for its source.

Be-beep be-beep be-beep

It was steadily getting louder.

_'Where is it coming from?'_ I thought to myself as I wondered why it sounded so familiar. During this it seems like Gumball was racking his brain for an answer until...

"OH!"

"Whaaa..." I fell down startled by his shout.

"It's my alarm clock," he said with that innocent "I forgot" face. He then began to fade away when he motioned towards me and said, "I guess me and you are waking up."

I look down and notice that I also was fading away. This might be how we wake up when it's gradual.

"I guess..." he started, "I'll see you tomorrow, Rick,"

"Yea... maybe" I replied as he faded away completely and the world around dimmed and faded into darkness...

**~Day 3~**

I feel the sunlight on my face as I stir from my sleep. I crack my eyes and look up at the off-white ceiling thinking about what I dreamed of.

_'Guess we might have a remaining connection after all,'_ I thought, _'And if he could hear his alarm then he must have went back home yesterday.'_

I sit up, yawn and stretch, feeling some joints pop doing so. I try to rub my eyes and realize I haven't taken the goggles from off of them. Moving the goggles to my forehead I rub the sleep from my eyes and get off the bed. I then go into my new gym bag and take out a bag of banana chips.

"Sorry Joe," I said quietly as opened it had my first breakfast. Of course it tasted just like bananas, but its texture was different yet crisp; like a banana flavored cracker. I enjoyed it for the most part, but felt saddened as I remembered the breakfast that Nicole would make for her family now and again.

_'One day,'_ I thought, _'I might be able to get that again, but for now... deal with it.'_

I ate half the bag and decided to take care of a little of my hygiene. I open the toothbrush package, took out the toothpaste and a bottle of water. Knowing that the likelihood of the plumbing still working in this apartment was slim I was glad a bought the water in bulk. I went into the bathroom and checked to see if the sink would work. No such luck.

I put a little of the toothpaste onto my toothbrush and brushed my teeth thoroughly. Using a little water from the bottle I cleaned the bristles and rinsed out my mouth. I looked back at the bottle, I used about 1/6 of the water in it.

_'Ok...'_ I thought, _'if brush my teeth twice a day, mornings and nights, a bottle of water will last for three days. How many do I have again?'_ I went back into the room and counted 11 bottles, excluding the one I just opened.

_'So just over a month's worth of teeth brushing, eh?'_ I thought to myself. Then got my black backpack and took out all but one set of clothes: one long sleeve green undershirt, one lavender t-shirt, a pair of faded gray pants, and a pair of boxer-briefs. I placed the half full bag of banana chips from breakfast in a side pocket and the bottle of body wash in the side pocket.

I began thinking to myself, _'I need to go look for a place I can go to wash regularly.'_ I put my back pack on and left. The sky was in overcast so I couldn't see the sun, but it was had to be around 7 since that was the time Gumball's alarm was set to go off. I didn't see mush traffic on Broken Dreams Boulevard, makes sense not a lot of people live or work here. Once I got to a main road, however, traffic went from almost nonexistent to "try and cross the street, stupid" and I wasted a lot of time in alleys making sure no one saw my face.

_'It's too early in the morning to deal with this crap,'_ I thought as I waited for the traffic to thin out. I guess it took about an hour since I squatted in an alley til my legs began to cramp when traffic to lighten up enough for me to cross the streets. Looking around the town looking for a place that I could use lead me to one of those franchise gyms.

"Fitness Track?" I said to myself, "Well, lets see when it opens." The sign on the front said it opens at 10:30.

_'Crap.'_ I looked about seeing that there wasn't a lot of people around. I went to the alley on the side of this gym and looked at its windows and side door to see if anything was open or unlocked. The side door wasn't, but to my luck there was one slightly opened window eight feet from the ground. I looked for and found a dumpster I could use as a booster. It took me awhile to move it under the window, not a lot of physical strength, another trait I inherited from Gumball. Once I got it placed under the window I climbed up on it and opened the window more for me to slip through. Another luck out, It was just above the lockers of a locker room on the inside.

_'So, now you're helping me universe?'_ I thought to myself, _'bout time.'_ I entered and stood on top of the lockers, crouching to not bump my head on the ceiling above me. I moved to the side of the lockers that had a small pocket between it and the wall and climbed down. Looking through the locker room and it's section with toilets I realized from the lack of urinals that it was the ladies locker room.

_'Just when I thought you weren't messing with me anymore,'_ shaking my head as I inwardly expressed my disappointment in the universe. I took comfort in the fact that it doesn't open for a couple of more hours. Using little time I looked around of a towel to use, finding it on a mid-sized rack near the rooms entrance.

_'It's good that they were in the room,'_ I sighed, _'did not want to get caught on any cameras in the building.'_ I took off my backpack and took out my change of clothes; setting them on a bench, and stripped into my furry birthday suit. Placing the newly used clothes into the backpack I took out the body wash and went into the shower area and turned on a nozzle close to its entrance. Adjusting the water to just above lukewarm I got under the stream. I washed myself thoroughly using only half a palm full of the soap and rinsed.

I began to think about what my next step should be, _'I know that I will run out of money if I don't find a way to make more, but how can I do that? They will see me as Gumball and either call his parents or a truant officer and have me go to the school._

_'Knowing how this town is with something crazy happening around the Wattersons, that situation could be thrown way out of proportion. I can't sit on the side of the street like that one hobo since the same outcome as me looking for a job can come about. I could try gambling, but I might lose more money than I have and that can make me go into debt.'_

"Gah... living is a blessing AND a curse," I sighed. I turned the knob to cut off the water and went and dried off with the towel. After getting dressed and putting my goggles back on I placed the towel in a hamper near the locker room's entrance. I packed the body wash into the backpack's side pocket, put the backpack on and went over to the pocket I used to get down from off the lockers. Thinking back to when Gumball and Darwin had detention, I climbed up in the same way as they did when they were in the vents.

Clonk...

"augh..." I had bumped the top of my head on the ceiling. I crouched again rubbing the spot that hurt. I moved to the open window and looked to see if anyone was in the alley. Seeing that it was safe I squeezed through feet first and touched down on the lid of the dumpster. I climbed off of it and made my way down the alley, not wanting anyone to notice me. The sky's overcast had let up quite a bit letting in small rays of sunshine through openings between the clouds.

As I went on I looked down another alley as I walked past and noticed someone. My curiosity try to lead me towards a "death flag," I looked back down the adjacent alley. The person was leaning against a wall looking into the sky and sucking on a sucker. She was wearing a solid orange shirt with a crimson skirt, but had no shoes on. Her fur light gray with a black streak crossing her eyes. I knew who it was right away when I saw to rivet piercings in her right ear.

"Myra?" I said aloud startling her. She looks in my direction with a surprised look on her face. I could tell she wasn't expecting anyone who knows her to be in an alley.

"No need to be scared," said with a raised eyebrow walking up to her.

"Who said I was scared," she said her face reddening with embarrassment.

"Ahhh," I say mockingly, "Someones embarrassed." I snickered a bit and looked back up at her.

"Well," she said finally looking at my face trying to place a name, "if it isn't Kitten." I don't know why, but I like that nickname.

She looks back up to the sky then begins to pat her thighs rhythmically and begins saying something.

"Standing outta the way each and everyday, I just try and make my stand.

Take my hand and I'll show you the path that I take as I make my plan.

Don't you understand, that I got to... dang it!"

"Are you reciting poetry?" I asked.

"Well, yes and no," she said, "trying to rap."

"Rap? Wouldn't it be better to start without the beat?" I ask not entirely knowing how one starts.

"It depends on the person," she answered. She then looked at me with a scheming smirk and said, "Why don't you try?"

"uhh..."

"What? Are you chicken, Kitten," she said as started flapping her elbows, "Bawk braawwk."

"Fine. Ju-Just stop doing that, please," I said giving into peer pressure.

_'Am I a pushover?'_ I ask myself.

I looked down at the ground. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and just started a flow of words:

"There's a heavy burden on my back, as I race on down the track.

The track's called Life. The obstacles' turmoil and strife.

However, no matter, I cut through like a knife or a sword, you have my word

that until the end of my sprint, I won't give in or bend.

It's only when I see the finish line that I'll slow down and take my time,

Live to the fullest, hit harder than bullets.

Bills?

Jump on em and ground em.

Don't worry bout getting hit cause most likely they'll miss

as you do a Matrix dodge, given the last a kiss.

Now, you got one race, one track, one life.

So just pick up a mic, a light, or a fight

Remember just to live your life right as you take flight."

As I finished that I heard nothing, but the traffic of the town and slight wind blowing past my ear. I opened my eyes and looked up at Myra, who was nodding her head.

"You're pretty decent," she said with a smile. I felt a little bit of the anxiety I had go and sighed in relief.

"Thanks," I said back, "it was my first time doing that for anybody."

"Do you listen to a lot of music?" she asked me.

"Not really," I told her. Gumball never really stayed still long enough and just listened to music. He felt like it was a waste of time.

"Well," she began, "How would you like to accompany me to some music stores?"

"I'm ok with that," I tell her, "but shouldn't you be in school or something."

"Shouldn't you?" she shot back slightly annoyed at me for bringing up school.

"I'm not enrolled," I responded with a slight wave of my hand.

'At least it's not lie,' I thought to myself.

"Well," she said as she grabbed my hand tightly, "I'm skipping." She then ran down the alley pulling me along for the ride.

* * *

**Thanks for reading this far.**

**Not a jab at your intelligence, just didn't think people would be interested in this story.**

**I will put up a poll soon for what Rick will take up for a week before a certain event happens.**

**The poll will be on my Profile page for a week.**

**I look forward to your critiques and reviews. (With dread and hope)**

**And thanks again for reading my first fic.**


	7. Temp or Permanent Retirement

**To the people who know what's going on:**

**Background:**

**I'm someone who likes to read. Be it books, magazines, memoirs, manga, comics, etc... I saw writing stories as something for those who have jobs where that was needed, not for recreation.**

**I began reading fanfiction three years ago. Before then I thought it was pointless and stupid, but reading here for the first time made me realize that it wasn't a bad thing. Of course there are some crazy, or down-right deplorable, stories that make me cringe; but all of them gave me enough courage to start writing in the first place. It even made realize that I wanted to be an author, mainstream or obscure.**

**I have started posting my stuff and been writing my story for only a month and a half and I enjoy doing so. I also frequent the stories already written here for fun, but now I see so much hate and debates or polls on 'If [certain authors] should quit.' Where did all this come from? What happened to just reading their and helping them get better?**

**I mean seriously! This is fanfiction! I write here because I like it and want to get better, but seeing all this crap makes me second guess if I should even continue... **

**So, can I ask a question? Is it worth it? I'm not even sure... **


	8. Chapter 7

**First and for most I've decided to keep writing.**

**Also, the poll has been canceled.**

**I felt like I wouldn't have actually written this if I keep asking for votes.**

**So only when I believe a decision is too important enough will I be having a poll.**

**(Also that poll about Agent BM kinda ruined them for me.)**

**Not entirely sure how long I'm going to make this story, 10 chapters? 20?**

**It's kinda painful thinking of how long it should be, but don't mistake it for me trying to end it.**

**I know how it will end and I have ideas for Rick's experiences and hardships.**

**I just don't know if I will make it to the end, I feel like I might try to avoid the inevitable.**

**If you have any advice about this feel free to message me, or write it in the review box if you don't have an account.**

**I do not own TAWoG... Enjoy**

* * *

Myra has dragged me up and down Elmore, from music shop to music shop. I have heard just about everything, from classical to country or hip-hop to punk rock. I found club songs repetitive and stupid, but necessary for finding the gems within the genre. Hours were spent listening to music and Myra's take on what some songs mean in their lyrics.

Myra favorite genres seemed to be Rock and Electronic, but also finds hip-hop nice enough to try it out. Personally, I have somewhat gravitated to Hip-Hop and Punk Rock. Although I was forced against my will to accompany her, I enjoyed this time. Stress from thinking about what was going on with me had eaten away at me and then Myra came and put my mind at ease.

_'The universe may like messing with me,'_ I thought to myself as Myra brought me to a small and out-of-the-way shop, _'but it allowed me to meet this person. It might care just a bit'_

We entered the latest shop, which catered more towards Rock and Hip-Hop music. The ambiance was comfortable with very little people and one of Daft's songs playing over the speakers in the corners. I was looking around and found a sample station, a small console where you could listen to small parts of a track. I put on the headphones connected to it and chose a song called "Loud Pipes." Unexpectedly, it was in the Electronic genre, but had a slight Rock feel to it. As I listened I looked over the store and noticed a clock saying it was 11:54 a.m.

'Wow,' I thought, 'we've going around town for 4 hours.' Then I began wondering why Myra was skipping school. I looked around for her and saw her up at the counter talking with the clerk, some guy with a CD for a head.

'Evolution's weird.'

I took off the headphones and walk up towards the counter. As I got closer I could hear their conversation.

"...'s their new album be out?" I heard Myra ask the clerk.

"It should be out in a week from Thursday," said the clerk, who saw me coming, "Sup, little man?"

"Hey," is all I said as I was still not used to talking to new people. The clerk noticed and just smirked.

"No need to be nervous, little man," he said before looking back at Myra, "You making kids skip wit' ya?"

_'I guess this guy knows about Myra skipping school'_ I thought to myself as I watched them interact, _'must happen a lot.'_

"Come on, Phil," said Myra feigning dejection, "Do you really think I would do something like that." The clerk just chuckled. "The kid's... uh... well I call him Kitten."

Phil just raised an eyebrow and looked at me.

"My name's Rick," I told him.

"Really?" Myra said surprised, "I like Kitten better."

"Yeah Yeah," clerk said to Myra then he turned to me, "So, Rick, anything not yours in that backpack?"

I look up at him a little scared that he would accuse me of stealing. He then chuckled and said, "Just messin' wit' ya, kid. I had my eyes on you since ya came in, I know you didn't try and get a five finger discount. The look on yo' face was priceless, though. Ya looking for your first CD?"

I still felt nervous, but swallowed it down and said, "I haven't listened to a lot of music, so not sure what I would get. I also don't have a CD player."

"Well that can be corrected," piped Myra, "Do you have one behind the counter, Phil?"

"Let me see," he said before disappearing behind the counter. I could hear the clattering as he looked. I was about to say something when he popped up with a portable in his hand.

"Just yo' luck!" he began loudly, "We still have one of the newer ones. Now, I would usually sell it for $70, but I'll cut it to 40 plus the price of the CD choose."

"Wow, you just keep getting good deals, huh?" remarked Myra.

'I guess she's referring to the discount she gave me yesterday.' I go back through the racks to find my first CD. Not sure what to get since Gumball never really listened to music so I don't recognize any of the names. I have looked through the CDs when I found someone interesting.

"I-I guess I'll take this one," I said to Phil as I went back up to the counter with the CD. I gave him the CD and he looked at it with a raised eyebrow and nodded.

"Deltron 3030, eh?" he said, "Not a bad choice. Kinda thought ya woulda picked up one of da "Lil" or "A$AP" artists"

"Wha..?" I couldn't comprehend that, "Why are there so many of those guys?"

"No one really knows," Phil said as he calculated the price on the cash register, "Yo' total is $49.57. Oh! Nearly forgot to throw in the headphones, no earbuds though." He then turned and pulled a box off the wall behind him.

"How much will that be?" said Myra.

"The price is now... uh... $65.94," he said. I got a little nervous since I needed the money I had to last for awhile. The peer pressure coming from Myra, however, was overwhelming and I caved. I reached into my pocket and pulled out two $50s.

"My change should be $34.06," I said to myself. I didn't notice I said that out loud until Phil had said I was correct as he gave me my change. I felt my face get hot from embarrassment.

'Each time I talk with Myra I get embarrassed,' I thought to myself, 'What am I getting myself into?'

"Well, we'll be seeing you, Phil," said Myra as I got my new CD player and stuff, "We gotta go now."

"Alright," he replied, "be careful out there. And remember, I'll have a copy of that album fo' ya next week."

"Ok." As we left the store I noticed that the time was now 12:13. Today was fun, but there was still this nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

"Myra?" I said getting her attention.

"Yea?" She responded looking at me. I felt so nervous as she looked at me that I lowered my head and stared at the ground.

"Why are you skipping school?" I asked. There was an awkward silence as she stopped in her tracks. I stopped, but didn't raise my head as I felt like I made a mistake bringing it up. "I-I'm sorry. It's none of my business. I just met you and I-I..."

She put a hand on my shoulder and said, "It's okay, Kitten." She then walked past me and over her shoulder said, "I just don't want to talk about it right now." Her voice was calm, but sullen.

'_Now I feel like a jerk,'_ I thought to myself. I look up to apologize when...

"YO!" someone yelled from behind us. I turn to see a mahogany dog with a white circle walking up to us. Wearing a black denim shorts, red sneakers and a dark blue tank top I recognized him almost immediately. His face was emotionless, or at most not caring. He then greeted us as got close enough, "Rick. Lady."

"Eddy," I returned awkwardly, feeling a different kind of awkwardness than earlier.

"Is this guy a friend of yours?" Myra asked me as she looked at us with a slight confusion showing on her face.

"More of an acquaintance, actually," he answered for me. "I nearly punched him in the face the yesterday." Myra's jaw dropped a little when she heard him say that. She looked at me as if she wanted clarification.

"He was sleeping in that old theater near Quest's," I explained, "and I pinched his ear to wake him up"

"You couldn't just shake him awake?" she asked.

"Supposedly he tried," Eddy answered, "but I didn't even stir from it."

Myra looked somewhat speechless. She just put her hands up and said, "I'm done. Just... done. I'll see you later, Kitten. Gotta get ready for work anyway." She turned and walked off mumbling something about insanity.

"I thought your name was Rick," Eddy remarked as she left.

_'Is this guy okay?'_ I thought to myself, _'What's with the deadpan expression.'_

"It is," I said, "she just calls me Kitten. It's a nickname she gave me."

"Oh," he said. He then had an impassive look of thinking before he said, "If you don't mind... I'll just call you Rick."

"Ok. I'd actually prefer if you do that."

"Hey, you doin' anything right now?" he asked. I look around and then back at him. Just when I was about to answer... "Nah, you ain't doin' nothin'. Come on they're showing another old film at the theater."

He then began walking down the road. At first I just stood there wondering what was going on. I look at him as he walks away, when I hear him yell over his shoulder, "Come on! Catch up!"

_'I know I don't have anything to do,'_ I thought to myself,_ 'but why is this interaction going so fast?'_ I then jogged to catch up to him.

"You okay, dude?" I ask him as I closed the distance.

"Yea, Why you ask?" he responded.

"It's just... uh... you seem to act a little different from yesterday, you know? Emotionless and invasive."

"OH!" he said before a slight smirk came on his face. "I just hung out with a friend of mine who had me act like that while around him and sometimes... I just forget that he's not around and keep goin along with it. Sorry. Must have been awkward for you and that girl."

"No no... it's ok," I told him, "it kinda threw us off a bit."

"Well my friend throws a lot of people off with his way of life," he said before chuckling a bit.

_'I guess his friend is a little weird or unique,'_ I thought.

"You datin' that girl?" he asked. I nearly tripped when I heard that.

"No!" I said nervously, "She's just someone else I met yesterday."

"Oh... did you confess to her or somethin'?" he asked, "That was a kinda stifling atmosphere there dude."

"No! No I-I just... said something I probably shouldn't have." I felt bad for how I left things with Myra. I guess it showed on my face.

"Oh... uh... sorry for bringing it up," he said not knowing what to do.

I just sighed. "So what's the film that's playing today?" I ask.

"I think it's called... uh... hmm," he looked like he was struggling on a test the way he was thinking, "AH! The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. About an era that most people would like to forget."

"Well," I began, "my interest has been caught." We then proceeded to the strip mall. When it came into sight I asked him, "Why do you go to that old school theater?"

"Because. Me aburren" he said.

"What?"

"I'm Bored, in spanish it's me aburren."

"Oh... I don't know spanish," I informed him.

"Hang around me long enough and you soon will," he said back. I felt a little more comfortable being around him. He didn't seem like a bad guy or someone who'd start a fight. So I wondered why he did fight against the bomb headed.

_'Probably shouldn't ask, dont want to have the same thing that happen like when I asked Myra.'_

We got to the theater and saw the muffin lady in the booth again.

"You kids again? You must like old school films," she said, "5 bucks each. It starts in bout 8 minutes."

I reached into my pockets when Eddy waved me off, "I got it." He then proceeded to pay for both of us. We were given our tickets and were on our way in.

"You didn't have to pay for me, you know," I told him.

"I know, but it's just my way of saying sorry," he said, "For punching you and that awkwardness earlier."

The time I saw on the old clock say it was 12:39. We entered the viewing area and noticed that we were the only ones there. We decided to sit near the back this time since the last time my neck was kinda stiff afterwards. We sat down and talked a little bit more about our day before we saw each other. I was careful to not say anything about where I sleep and sneaking into the women's showers at the gym. Then the show started.

**~2 hours later~**

The film ended and I felt really bad about the history of civilization.

"Well," Eddy began, "That was somewhat depressing. Good movie, just depressing."

"I'd have to agree with you there," I said.

'Civilization must now earn back the faith I had in it.'

"Let's not talk about this film again," he said as he got up from his seat. I quietly agreed and got up as he got into the aisle. I was following behind him and looked at the clock as I left. It was 2:50. We got outside and I heard Eddy chuckle a bit.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

Eddy looked at me with a prominent smirk and said, "My friend that I was talking about before is over there." He motioned to the store across from the theater. There was a guy squatting with his back to us staring into the window of the store. He was wearing a black sweater vest hoodie, with the hood up, a white t-shirt under it, tan cargo pants that ended up tucked into black hiking boots.

_'Well, he seems friendly,'_ I sarcastically thought to myself. Almost as if he heard that his head turned to the side to look at me. His face showed that he was a teenaged fox person with deep rouge fur. He had a slightly unnerving smile on his face. He then stood, turned around and strolled over to us. He was only over and inch taller than me, but had a this overbearing pressure coming from him. His smile got bigger showing his sharp canines

"Well then little kitty," he said with a slightly scratchy voice, "Aren't you a weird one."

_'I'm gonna die.'_

* * *

**Well I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.**

**I wanted to at least bring up one character since I had a lot of fun thinking him up.(No it's not Phil)**

**I'm not goin anywhere, unless I die. So be ready to see more stuff coming, not just TAWoG stories.**

**Still, be prepared for this fox guy to make you uncomfortable.**

**And I'll end the story when I see Rick reach the destination.**

**Soon, real soon, will he make himself known.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 is finally up! For my readers, I write the messages like these before I write the chapters.**

**I feel that if I do this then the chapters flow better.**

**Now this chapter is going to be a little... crazy?**

**Not sure how to describe it, but the newest character I'm introducing is not normal, even by TAWoG standards.**

**I hope you enjoy the story and my Ocs.**

**Well... Enjoy!**

"Well then little kitty," the rouge colored fox said, "Aren't you a weird one." The slight scratchy sound of his voice had me feeling as if I wasn't going to see daylight again.

_'I'm gonna die'_

This guy looked at me as if he was eying a hoagie. His canines sharp and ready to dine. I was on the verge of tears when..

Slap!

"Gah!" I yelped as I felt a slight stinging pain on my back. I turned to see Eddy rubbing his palm. He was looking at me with the look that said, "Why so scared?"

I then heard a light-hearted chuckle coming from the fox. When I looked at him there was a different feel coming from him. He gave off a friendly, nonthreatening vibe now. His eyes were warm and accepting. His smile was less menacing and more welcoming. It was as if he became a completely different person.

"Man," he said with a mellow voice, the scratchiness was gone, "You looked like you were about to have an accident!"

_'Did the slap to my back mess with my mind?'_

I just stood there looking at him while rubbing my back. He looked back at me as if he was waiting for something. His face then scrunched up with annoyance.

"Well," he said, "introductions are a must when you meet someone new, right?"

"Uhh... I-I'm Rick," I managed to say through my embarrassment.

"Ok. Rick, I'm Bryce Willex, but please call me Ikol." He said that with one of the most serious, yet relaxed faces I have ever seen.

_'Is he serious?'_

"Uh... Can I ask why?" I asked him.

"Yea... You can," he said and just looked at me, waiting. I, myself, was waiting for him to tell me why. For a good 30 seconds we were just standing there with only silence going back and forth. I then felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to Eddy.

"He's waiting for you to ask him why, you know." he whispered into my ear.

"I had just asked him why," I responded.

"Actually," said Bryce, "you asked if you could ask me why."

I just stood there a little dumbfounded.

_'He couldn't be that literal. Could he?'_

"Why do you wanna be called Ikol?

"Cause it's Loki backwards!" he said beaming. I stood there with more questions running through my mind, but didn't know how to go on.

_'I-I uh... wha...'_

My mind basically broke.

"Uh Bryce?" Eddy said, "I don't think Rick can keep up with your "nonsense" like you want him to." Bryce had a slightly defeated look on his face as looked from Eddy to me. His head slumped forward and he sighed.

"Fine. You can just call me Bryce," he said before he mumbled, "there goes my chance to have a weird nickname of my choice."

"Your last name's weird enough," said Eddy smugly.

"Come on, man," Bryce whined, "You know I have a complex about that."

"No you don't," shot Eddy, "you make fun of it yourself."

"Yea I know," Bryce said happily. The way he quickly changes his reactions and emotions were throwing me off. I was sitting there listening to their conversation as it went from Bryce's name, to "Alligators on a Train," to perfume smells, their theories why banana flavored anything doesn't taste like bananas. I was standing there for a good 15 minutes just bewildered.

_'I thought Gumball and Darwin were the only "random" people in Elmore. I was wrong.'_

Then, as if he just remembered I was there, Eddy turned to me.

"Oh man, I'm sorry," he said with an embarrassed look on his face, "I had forgotten to include you in this."

"Yea, sorry dude," followed Bryce, "You know what? I'mma make it up to you. We're gonna get lunch, my treat. Where do you wanna go? Just nothing fancy."

"Cool..." that's all I say. Then we set off towards a burger place that was good, but out-of-the-way of anyone I knew of. I couldn't believe how they pulled me into their pace without me even interacting with at length. I'm surprised that I'm going along with them. Not because they're random or anything, but because they're not Gumball and Darwin. These two give off a different feel then them, but it is undeniable that there are similarities between their actions.

"Hey," Bryce said turning to me while walking backwards, "I saw this Watterson kid, blue cat, at EJH who looks a lot like you. Are you guys related? Are you a Watterson?"

"No, I don't think so," I answered quickly. Bryce's eyes then went from warm to cold and analytical.

_'Does he know something? Nah, there's no way. No one knows I exists so there shouldn't be any suspicion.'_

No matter how I tried to calm myself, the look from his eyes were unnerving. He had turned around and continued his friendly way of talking, but my nerves were still shaken.

We arrived at the burger place, Angus' Burgers, and made our orders. While we waited we found a booth to the side and sat down.

"Be right back," Eddy said, "gotta use it." He then got up went off towards the bathroom. Now it was just me and Bryce sitting in the booth and once Eddy disappeared from sight Bryce's eyes changed again.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked. His eyes looked at me like I was a puzzle he was trying to solve. I felt so nervous from his look that my voice was cracking when I replied.

"G-Go ahead..."

"Well," he started, "Why did you lie when I asked if you were related to the Wattersons?"

"I didn..."

"Look, I can tell when you lie to me. Not from tells or anything like that, but from how your eyes are when they respond or talk about stuff. And... your eyes... showed a little fear when I asked and it didn't go away when you answered. Heck, it still there."

"I... don't want people to know, ok?"

"Why not? I mean, it's not like they're truly hated or anything."

"It's not that. Let me put it this way, the parents don't have that many siblings living in Elmore and don't have uh... nieces or nephews."

"So, what? You got put up for adoption?"

"N-No... I didn't exist until Sunday night."

"Ok... I don't follow."

"That family has three kids, a small bunny girl, an adopted fish, and the blue cat you saw. They were there before I was alive. I know them, but they don't know me. I wasn't alive at all until the cat's accident Sunday."

"I know I said some weird things earlier, but this is weirder than anything I said. Are telling me that they have a spontaneous extension to their family?"

"Actually... That's basically it."

He just looked at me his face calm and calculating, but softer than at the beginning of this conversation. "Well, they do have weird things happening to them almost every week."

"Why did you want to know?" I asked him. He didn't seem surprised that this was the next thing out my mouth. He closed his eyes as if thinking about the right way to answer.

"You met Eddy yesterday and when he asked you for your name he thought that you were lying to him. However, when you told me your name... you were telling the truth. I wondered why that the answer you gave one day, which was a lie, can be the truth the next day.

"Then when I noted the similarity between you and the Watterson kid you got scared. Why would you be scared by just hearing the name Watterson? They don't try to harm people, commit crimes, or anything with malice intended. That got me curious about you and if it's alright for Eddy to hang around you."

"Why do you care who Eddy hangs with?" I ask before inserting, "not to be disrespectful."

"I've known Eddy for two years. He is like a younger brother to me. He doesn't have many friends at school, mostly because he sees his classmates as superficial and stupid. And since I'm gonna be in High school next year, yeah I'm 14, I wanted him to at least make one friend that can hang with him at and after school. Just don't them leading him astray."

"I'm not sure if I can be that friend, but don't want to go down the wrong path either," I tell him. He looks at me and smirks a bit. At that I felt a little better letting that out.

"Well maybe he'll be in good hands," Bryce said.

"Who'll be in good hands?" said Eddy as he sat down after coming back with our food.

"I hope you washed your hands," Bryce said.

"Nah, I just stuck my hands in the toilet and swished them around."

I chuckled and took my portion.

_'Bryce is smart. And a better listener than I expected. It feels better letting it out.'_

For a good hour or so we were in that booth talking and debating things like the audience of "Daisy the Donkey" being older than anticipated or our favorite weather; Bryce believes sunny days are misleading, "It's like 'Oh! It's such a nice day nothing can hap...' hit by a car!"

I didn't want the day to end, but Eddy said he had to get home soon.

"Puntualidad is one of my mom's main principles, so I gotta go. See you guys later."

"Yea, see ya," I responded.

"Peace, Perros," Bryce said. We saw him run off and when he was gone I looked to Bryce.

"I guess I'll get going," I said not wanting to keep him from getting home late. As I walked away he called out to me.

"Hey! If you need anything I'll be in front of the theater at 3 everyday after tomorrow. Also, be careful tomorrow, it's gonna rain."

"Alright, thanks for the warning." We went our separate ways when I noticed that the time was 4:55.

_'Not much I should be able to do after five. A 12-year-old kid out that late is just asking for trouble. But should get some batteries for the CD player'_

After getting a big pack of batteries I walked back to Broken Dreams Boulevard. Upon reaching the apartment I stopped and listened at the afternoon sound around here. It was quiet, no footsteps, no ticks of a clock, nothing but my breathing. I entered and went to my small cove, what I call the room now, and listened to the CD I got today.

There was one song that I kept listening to over and over. So much so that I began reciting it's hook.

**"~I wanna devise  
a virus  
To bring dire straits to your environment  
Crush your corporations with a mild touch  
Trash your whole computer system and revert you to papyrus**

**I wanna devise**  
**a virus**  
**to bring dire straits to your environment**  
**crush your corporations with a mild touch**  
**trash your whole computer system and revert you to papyrus**

**I wanna devise a virus**  
**to bring dire straits to your environment**  
**crush your corporations with a mild touch**  
**trash your whole computer system and revert you to papyrus**

**I wanna devise a virus**  
**to bring dire straits to your environment**  
**crush your corporations with a mild touch**  
**trash your whole computer system and revert you to papyrus ~"**

I listened to the CD til I felt tired. Before I laid down for bed I closed and locked the window in the room and brushed my teeth. Taking off the goggles, backpack, pants and t-shirt. I finally laid down upon the bed and instantly fell asleep.

**Thanks for sticking with the story so far.**

**The hook is from "Virus" by Del the Funky Homosapien, Kid koala, and Dan Nakamura; aka Deltron 3030.**

**This will influence the dream sequence in the next chapter.**

**Also would like to say that some other people will learn his secret next chapter.**

**Some days will go by quick, but will be long enough to give you more of Rick's thoughts.**

**Feel free to review or message me if you have critiques or advice as I'm still getting into the grove of writing these stories.**

**Another story is on the way, but not a TAWoG story. Sorry**


	10. Chapter 10

"**Greet the dawn of a new day with a smile."**

**I feel like this quote would fit with Rick's mentality, but something's off.**

**Well Chapter 9 is coming up after this message:**

**I am kinda inconsistent with my thoughts, which I look back on with a sense of joy.**

**Being inconsistent is something that most people see as an inconvenience, but it allows me took have multiple ideas that I put into my stories.**

**Rick, Bryce, and Eddy all came about in the same 3 minutes because of my inconsistency.**

**Well... Let's get back to why you're here in the first place.**

**Ch 9... Enjoy!**

* * *

I open my eyes and see that I'm laying in a dark hallway. I get up and look towards the end and notice that there was no light, but when I turn around I notice a light that randomly changing colors. I begin walking towards the light as I didn't like the feeling the hallway gave me, one of loneliness and depression. Walking along the hall I find myself humming. I remember where it's from as I begin reciting a song.

"I wanna devise a virus  
to bring dire straits to your environment  
crush your corporations with a mild touch  
trash your whole computer system and revert you to papyrus"

As I sing the hook I see slight motion in the walls, ceiling, and floor. I stop and examine this phenomena and note that there were string-like white lights coursing through the walls. I softly touched the walls and the lights grew in brightness and flowed towards my fingers.

_'This is like the plasma globes in the same aisle as lava lamps in stores'_

I looked around the hall and noticed the floor had the same thing as the lights flowed towards my feet. Seeing this was so exhilarating that the lonely and depressing feeling was gone. I as I stepped the light structures pulsed. That was when I saw some of the lights pulse off the walls. I then began stomping, hopping, and jumping; each time more and more the structures rose off the surfaces of the hall. The light strings then slowly wrapped around my body and lifted me up off the ground. There was no feeling of fear as I was lead towards the neon lights at the end of the hall.

As I got to the end of the hall I saw the world of this dream. It was like Elmore had entered the cyberspace. The building windows showing motion ads for TV or consumer products. The mode of transportation were floating panels that materialized from under people's feet. Everything had a neon color scheme to it and it was awesome.

_'This place... I wanna see more of it'_

Suddenly, I felt uneven as if was balancing on something. I look down and find myself on one the floating panels. With just a thought I could direct where it was headed, how high it goes, and its speed. I felt like an Arabian prince from stories and movies.

I was whooshing through the air, yes whooshing. I was able to see that everything had changed to meet the theme of cyberspace. I was enjoying this until I noticed something was missing from this dream.

_'Is he not asleep?'_

I now look down on Cyber Elmore, from my bird's eye view, searching for a familiar blue furred person. I could almost see everything from this panel, but still couldn't find him.

_'Is he inside a building?'_

I have the panel go lower as I come up on a street I know too well. I survey the street as the panel gets low enough and see the usual 1964 Lincoln Continental.

_'You have good tastes in cars, Mr. Robinson.'_

I turn my attention to the house next door. The house has the same usual design, but with neon colored. I step off the panel and walk up to the house. Reaching the front steps I feel unnerved, as if something's telling me to turn away.

_'Why am I getting scared!? It's just a dream!'_

With that thought I began up the stairs. The moment I touched the first step the entire house lit up red. I fell back and tripped when I saw the lights. As I picked myself up I heard a siren, which was steadily getting louder.

"Foreign existence detected" boomed a voice. I couldn't see where it was coming from.

"Possible virus infection! Apply Protection protocol!" Once it said that I saw something move through the sky towards my location. As it got closer I noticed what it was... Ocho.

'No. No. No! NO NO NO NO NO NO!'

I remember when that using-cheat-codes-in-real-life spider boy basically killed Gumball and Darwin twice. I did not want to feel that again, even if this was a dream. I booked at fast as I could out of that area. I ran for a good time before looking behind me to see if Ocho was still giving chase. To answer that question; Yes, THEY were.

There was an unimaginable number of Ocho's gaining on me. I felt like I could barely breath as I ran, as though something was blocking air flow. I looked around for a place to hide so I could lose them; but all possible alleyways were bricked up, all the doors were locked and I couldn't find a intersection for the life of me.

_'This isn't a dream. It's a frickin nightmare.'_

That's when it dawned on me. Most of Gumball's nightmares ended once the horrible thing either happens or is about to happen. I stopped in my tracks and turned towards the horde of Ocho's. They all floated above me and prepared to fire. I kept my eyes open as I waited for the blast. I felt like I was looking into the face of death.

_'Please let this work.'_

"Come on! GET IT OV!"

CRACK!

**~Day 4~**

CRASH!

My eyes shot open at that sound. I saw that my face was smushed into the bed as I gained my groggy bearings.

_'So that's why I could hardly breath?'_

I got up and sat on the bed as I began to fully wake up.

CRACK! CRASH!

I nearly jumped out of my fur. I got up and looked up at the window, it was fogged up. I climbed up carefully to wipe the glass. After I did I noticed that Bryce was half right when he said it was gonna rain; it was storming outside.

"Whoa!" I said surprised, "Looks like it's official, I'm staying inside." I got down from the window and got myself as cleaned as I could. I finished off the rest of the banana chips that was left over from yesterday's breakfast. Still in my boxers I left the room.

_'Nowhere to go means that I don't really need to be dressed. Not like anyone is gonna come by anyway.'_

Realizing that, I decided to have a better look around this apartment building.

_'Pointless Adventure!'_

I had already seen the ground floor and its rooms when Sal hid here, so I made my way up the stairway. The stairs creaked as I climbed them. They were rickety and seemed like they would break if someone heavier tried them.

_'Good thing I wasn't Richard's conscience.'_

I got to the second floor and it seemed relatively the same as the ground floor, except the common squeak the floor made here and there. I looked through the rooms to see if anyone had left anything behind I could use. All I found was dust, spiders, a powdered-wig, and an ancient burrito.

_'Wow... some people.'_

There was one more floor and an attic area that was left, so I went up the stairs again. The third floor rooms looked a bit more accommodating. They were bigger, for a family with a high number of members. I thought about moving my stuff to one of these rooms, but remembered not to trust the floor boards.

_'These things are squeakier than a rubber ducky being squeezed like a stress toy.'_

Shaking my head I headed up to the attic area. At the top of the stairs was a door that, I assumed, lead to the attic storage area. I opened it and coughed as a significant amount of dust flew out. I looked about this huge room and saw that it was coated in dust, but other than that... it was empty. There were five windows; three with a view of the wooded area behind this building and two showing the street in front. I walked to one of the back windows and looked out over the woods.

Remembering yesterday's meeting with Myra, I thought to try something.

"Alone under the sky as the rain whizzed by

I let out a sigh of indifference as I look at this rare occurrence.

A life that is new, but I don't understand

why I'm here once again thinking bout why I began to be,

why I began see,

why I began feel,

is it truly real?

I don't even know, but I'm goin' with the flow

just to see where I go.

I hope there's no Dead End.

Cause then I'll have to question if I was being taught a lesson

that I had no clue about.

It's true.

I just want to see where this road takes me and hope that I'll be me

and that it's not a bitter dream..."

After that I felt a little depressed at my outlook. I left the attic and went back down to my room. I spent the rest of the day listening to the CD from yesterday and the storm as raged and calmed. That night as I slept... I don't remember what I dreamt about.

* * *

**Kinda messed up way of thinking, isn't it.**

**Well Thank You for continuing to read.**

**I know it's shorter than previous chapters, but that's the point.**

**If you have feedback for this chapter, or the overall story, don't forget to share by sending a review.**

**If you don't want it to be public you can message me instead. (Unless you don't have an account in which case... you're kinda boned.)**

**Will try to be faster in bringing the next chapter.**


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